


Great Senshado War

by Irishluck29



Category: Girls und Panzer
Genre: Action, Gen, Intrigue, War, World War II
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:15:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 85,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25794994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Irishluck29/pseuds/Irishluck29
Summary: A new gaming system which allows its users to perceive everything ultra realistically and how they perceive time is invented. Teaming up with the board of Sensha-do as well as the airsoft board they plan out a game mod to be fought between schools which would be more akin to war.Follow each school as they are thrown into this universe to fight. Not only will they fight on land but in the air and at sea as well, not to mention with their words too. Teams shall rise and fall, alliance will be formed and betrayed. In the end who can tell who will win.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

Miho clutched her jacket closet to her as the wind slapped against her. Making her way into the building in front of her she was followed by Anzu and another girl around Miho's age.

Her name was Amaryllis (Amy), she was the Airsoft team leader. She had black long hair that reached her mid-back and mysterious twinkling grey eyes. She had pale skin and her eyes were just a tad sunken giving her a bit of a sickly look that only she could pull off as cute. Her uniform had the same color scheme as Mihos but had a slightly more infantry feel to it.

Moving towards the counter Miho asked, " Excuse me where is the sensha-do meeting taking place?"

"It's in room 10 miss"

"Thank you" Miho had gotten less shy over the past year but she hadn't fully been able to get over it.

Reaching the designated room Miho pushed the doors open and led Oarai's team over to their designated seat. On her way over she encountered Anchovy who proudly exclaimed " Miho!"

Before hugging the startled girl. Miho hugged her back as she started to introduce Amy.

"Anchovy this is Amy she leads the Oarai AR team."

"Nice to meet you, Amy"

" pleasure is mine" replied the girl

"Miho, this is Florence she's our AR team general"

"Nice to meet you Florence, I hope we can get to know each other in the future."

Florence was a girl with shoulder-length brown hair. She had brown eyes, fair skin, and had freckles splashed on her cheeks. She was wearing a light grey-green uniform.

Making their way to their seats Anchovy followed them as it so happened that they were sitting next to one another.

The other team next to them was the Jatkosota team with Mika and two other individuals Miho didn't recognize.

________________________________

Darjeeling walked into the building followed by Pekoe and Mint.

Mint was Saint Gloriana's AR team leader. She had blond short hair and was wearing a ww2 British uniform. Her eyes were black and her skin was tanned. She exuded elegance and charm.

Darjeeling had just opened the door to the meeting, the long rectangular table covered most of the middle part of the room. At the end were three official-looking people in which she recognized one of them as the Head of Board for the Sensha-do league.

Making her way towards her seat she found the Oarai Team already talking with both the Jatkosta and Anzio Teams. Sitting down she found the Saunders and Kuromorimine who were seated next to her.

Kay greeted her cheerfully "Darjeeling, how nice to see you"

"Kay, the pleasure is all mine"

"Well in that case let me get the formalities out of the way. Darjeeling meet Diana, Saunders Ar General"

Diana was a rather short girl with a brown ponytail, she was wearing an officer cap reminiscent to General MacArthur. Her posture and aura were of one who was serious almost a complete opposite of Kay. She was also wearing some stylish aviator glasses that were tinted green.

"Nice to meet you Darjeeling"

" Nice to meet you, Diana, I would like to introduce our own AR general, Mint"

Shaking hands with each other the Saunders and Glorianna Girls sat down just as one of the Officials got up and asked

"Everybody, please take a seat and quiet down"

The room slowly quieted down as some of the more distant groups came and sat down.

"Thank you for showing up to this meeting, we appreciate you showing up to this meeting. I am the inventor of a new product that allows its user to completely immerse itself in the virtual world. I have approached the Board of Senshado and AR to ask them if they would be interested in creating a lengthened match that would be called The Great Senshado War. You would be put into the VR universe for seven days and would fight over the land given to you. Be warned that although you will be under for seven real days, the simulation will actually last seven virtual years and so seven days for us will be seven years for you. Each real-life hour would, therefore, be around 15 days for you. Therefore every 2 hours will be roughly one month. I will let the Board members explain how the mode will specifically work"

The man sat down as a woman stood up

"Thank you, Mr. Tojo, now as previously explained each school will be given a certain amount of land, in this land, you will have cities, lose all your cities, and you are eliminated unless one of your allies liberate you. For example, if Pravda is allied to Saunders but loses all its cities to Kuromorini it is eliminated in till Saunders Liberate it. Its army may fight under one of its allies but it will not be receiving reinforcements. Talking about reinforcement, they will arrive in cities as new tanks, weapons, and other girls who choose to join at a later date. This means that if halfway through the week a surge of girls joins then they will appear in a city as new recruits."

Letting everybody digest this the women continued " Schools will be separated into 8 teams which will be dubbed as "nations" which the schools can name as they will. Alliances may be formed and be dissolved between these nations but the schools inside these nations will not be changed once they have been agreed upon in this group"

Silence took over the room before the women sat down and a man stood up and said " now for the nations,

Nation #1 is composed of the schools of Saunder, Count *Romanian centered school*, Yogurt *Bulgarian centered School*, Gilbert *Danish centered school* and Viking *Norway centered school*. The leader shall be Saunders

Nation #2 is composed of Pravda, Jatkosota, West *second rate St-Glorianna Impostors*, and Kebab * Turkish centered school*. The leader shall be Pravda

Nation #3 is composed of St-Glorianna, Maple*Canada*, Koala*Australia/NZ*, and Bonple *Poland*. The leader shall be St-Glorianna.

Nation #4 is composed of Anzio and Blue *Spain* and the leader shall be Anzio

Nation #5 is composed of Kuromorini, Ooarai, Bellwall*Post ww2 Germany*, Gregor*Czechoslovakia*, and Viggen *Sweden*. The leader is Kuromorini.

Nation #6 is composed of Chi-ha-tan and Tategoto*Burma* the leader is Chi-ha-tan.

Does anybody have any objections."

Before anybody could comment on anything there was a loud scraping of a chair on the floor as two hands loudly hit the table. Everybody turned towards Miho who had just pulled off this spectacle.

" I object to the Ooarai team being forced under Kuromorini."

Everybody stared in shock, especially her sister Maho who could have never expected her sister to act so boldly. Mihos cheeks burned in embarrassment for what she had just done but she continued pushing forward.

"The values that Ooarai pride itself on do not match Kuromorini's and Ooarai does not believe that their interests could be represented properly." the words were said with a hint of frustration and annoyance.

Suddenly three more chairs were heard being pushed back as the representatives of Jatkosota, Yogurt, and Count rose.

Mika from Jatkosota spoke up " the rivalry between Jatkosota and Pravda is known to all and therefore we too believe our interests could never be represented in a nation led by Pravda"

A young pale girl from Count spoke up " The High school of count prides itself on its Witchcraft and Saunders have repetitively slandered this craft. We can not join forces with them"

A girl with long black hair from the school of Yogurt spoke " Saunders is known for its brash, aggressive and stubborn attacks. A complete opposite from the Doctrine this school believes in. We believe we would be considered just a simple number in their eyes."

The woman sitting at the front asked with eyes gleaming with curiosity " And what do you propose we do Miss Nishizumi"

Miho stood still for a few seconds as she came up with a few solutions before she spoke " If the other schools would accept, I propose we form our own Nation"

Mika immediately voiced her support for this followed tentatively by the representative of Count and Yogurt.

"Very well then there will be an 8th nation which will be composed of by Ooarai, Count, Jatkosota, and Yogurt. The leader shall be Ooarai. We can not promise that your land will be connected as the map has already been created. We shall deliver the maps as well as some more in-depth explanation of the mode in the coming week. The war shall start in 2 weeks, I recommend you take this time to make deals and alliances as well as discuss plans with the other members of your Nation. This meeting is adjourned"

Miho got up wracked with nerves as she looked across the table to meet her sister's cold eyes. A shiver went down her spine as she made contact with the Count and Yogurt Girls before looking at Mika who was now standing next to her.

"We should discuss when to meet" Mika spoke in a soft voice different to the tight and strained tone she had spoken in during her objections.

" Yes, I agree. Shall we gather the other members."

"That would be a good idea" Mika nodded

Making there way to the others they stopped in front of each other before Miho spoke

" I believe introductions are in order... should we do this talk at a restaurant, it may last a while."

Everybody nodded

"where should we eat?" asked Mika

"There's a Sushi place nearby" mentioned Anzu

As nobody brought any objections they made their way to the restaurant and sat at a table. After everybody ordered some food Miho began.

"I guess I should start the Introductions then, My name is Miho Nishuzumi I am the commander of the Panzer forces of Ooarai. Next to me is Anzu, she is the student president and member of Sensha-do. To my left is Amyrillis, also called Amy, she is the general in Ooarai's Airsoft Team."

Mika picked up where Miho left off " I am Mika, I'm the commander for the Jatkosota Sensha-do forces. To my right, is Hayha the general for the Airsoft team. To my left is Ryti, the school president."

Hayha had long white hair with light grey eyes, her aura was of a serious, patient, and mischief. Ryti has short brown hair, with blue eyes, she projected an aura of carefree seriousness.

The Count representative continued " I am Marina Constantinescu, Commander of my sensha-do team, and a striga. To my right is Michael, the president of the school, to my left is Constantine, Count High's general."

Marina was a short girl with long ashen hair and light brown eyes. She exudes an easygoing and carefree attitude. Michael is a young tomboyish girl with short black hair and dark brown eyes. Constantine is a young girl with long black hair and light blue eyes, she carries herself with confidence.

The Yogurt representative picked up where the Marina left off " I am Ivanna the Sensha-duo Captain. Damaska is the school president and Borislava is the general of Yogurt academy"

Ivanna had black long hair with red-brown eyes, Damaska had red hair that reached her shoulder with green eyes and Brorislava had dark brown hair which also reached her shoulders with black eyes. They all somehow projected an aura of patience and calm, as well as wisdom.

The food arrived shortly afterward as the girls continued to make some small talk in till Miho brought up what was going to be their nation's name.

There was a small discussion over it before it was settled with the proposed "Ooarai empire". It would work as a small deception to trick the others into thinking they were simply a loose group of independents.

They agreed to reconvene the next weekend on the Ooarai ship to further discuss what they should do.

**Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. The characters should be entering the VR universe in 3-4 chapters. Let me know what you think of this chapter.  
**

**Signed Irish  
**


	2. Maps, rules and extra info

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some extra info for the story.

Symbols of the school= VP City (Victory Points)

Gilbert High, West High, and Kebab High do not have any school Emblems. Therefore Pravda's symbols represent West and Kebab while Saunders represents Gilbert. 

When somebody is hit be it tank, infantry, or anything else they will die and be ejected out of the VR System. They will, therefore, be unable to join back.

Reinforcement will come every month in the form of materials and new recruits. 

Alliances can be made between nations as well as Non-aggression pacts and Ceasefires. This is not reinforced by anything other than trust.

Peace deals can be made, you may trade cities or entire schools ant their appropriate cities to others. This is reinforced in-game, once you sign onto the deal you must carry out what you stipulated. 

Prisoners can be traded for other prisoners. 

You may win in two ways:

1: You and all your allies have taken over the world

2: The nation with the most VP cities in their control.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find the Maps in the girls und panzer amino community or on the wattpad version.
> 
> I understand that the maps look very crude but I'm not that good at making maps. If anyone is willing to do a better job feel free to make one and send it to me (I'll of course credit you for the work) 
> 
> Now some explanation as to why certain parts of the world is missing. Simply enough there's just a lack of schools to fill out the world. So I fit the schools to what they base themselves on (exception being Ooarai,Gilbert and west high). I also took away certain parts of the world that never saw no or very little combat. Yeah hope you guys don't mind the map too much
> 
> Signed Irish ☘️


	3. Chapter 2: Interim Period: Ooarai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Follow miho in the two weeks before she enters the VR world as well as what deals have been made by the Ooarai Empire.

Miho stared at the piles of books in front of her, for the past week and a half she had been studying and reading different historical books in hopes of gleaning some knowledge. She had read books like Band of Brothers and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. As well as studying famous battles like Kursk, Stalingrad, El-Alamein, D-Day and Plenty of others. She had also invited Anchovy over in hopes of securing an alliance with her. She was supposed to arrive around noon.

Looking at the clock she noticed that it was 11:00, she better start getting ready if she hopes to not be late for said meeting. Her mind continued running almost a mile per hour as she reviewed what she and the rest of the Ooarai Empire had decided. 

They had decided to go with an Authoritarian type system since they knew there would be some type of war they agreed that it would be more practical to have one person simply decide how they would react instead of putting it up to a vote to speed up their reactions. They had also had done some limited training with each other. 

It had allowed Miho to better estimate their skills and how each commander thinks. She found that the Count commander relied on divination a lot of the time resulting in rather random and spur of the moment plans. While Yogurt preferred a more defensive approach, usually adopting a wait and see approach. Miho already knew that Jatkosota preferred guerrilla and Mottis tactics but it was nice to confirm this. 

There had also been a surge in recruits for all the schools in the Sensha-duo club and the Airsoft club on top of that there was a resurgence in the Pilot club and Sailors club, the Judges had ruled that they would add naval and Airforce into the simulation. 

Crap thought Miho as she ran out of her dorm room locking the door behind her as she rushed over to go meet Anchovy. Although they would meet tomorrow with Maho and Nishi, they had decided to develop an alliance ahead of time. They had a few phone calls and Miho knew that even for all the bravado of the Duce that she was worried that she would be taken out and ignored by allies because of their lackluster tank corp.

Meanwhile, Miho valued Anchovy as a good tactician, with a bit of support from Ooarai they should shine on their own. It also didn't hurt that they had very capable infantry, up there with Kuromorini and Pravda. 

Arriving just in time to the meeting room she saw Anchovy walk into the room. Giving an easygoing smile Anchovy Loudly exclaimed "Miho, how are you doing"

The small girl wrapped her arms around Miho before pulling back and searching in her small knapsack she pulled out a bowl wrapped in foil. Placing it on the table Miho noticed that it had Anzio's famous Spaghetti in it. 

Smiling Miho replied " I'm doing fine Anchovy, if a bit tired" 

"So how do we want to proceed with this alliance?" asked Miho

"We should keep it a secret, for now, I'd rather be able to surprise any of our potential enemies after they make the mistake of attacking the great Duce and her allies" Anchovy boasted rather pridefully

"what about the other nation's Miho, is their anybody your friends with or have decided to sign a treaty with yet?" continued Anchovy obviously fitting into the politician role quite well.

Although Miho had never had to deal with any politics in Kuromorimine and Ooarai for multiple reasons, Anchovy on the other hand had been embroiled in Anzio's inner politics for as long as she had been attending, she was the reason that the Senshado team had so much support after all. 

"Other than Maho's invitation and some tentative talks with Katyusha over a non-aggression pact we the nation of Ooarai have decided to remain neutral for now." 

"A good idea Miho, I will let you know that we are considering perhaps going at war with The confederation. We desperately need to connect ourselves with the other sector of the Anzio Empire. As you can probably guess, this has soured relations with them as they have refused to allow our military access to reach "little Spain" as our friends in the Blue Highschool have called it."

"What about the invitation to Kuromorini, I'm assuming it's my sister's way of creating a Central Axis. Will you accept it?"

"Anzio will accept only if the alliances show interest in attacking the Confederation." 

"If Anzio joins the alliance then we will join it too." 

"Shall we sign the alliance now?" Anchovy continued 

"Before we do, how would you feel about going a step further. Instead of a normal alliance, what if we place each other as the 1st ally for each other. We would simply put each other over other allies" Asked Miho a bit shy. Having somebody in this tournament outside her Nation which she could trust fully would be nice. 

"Of course, I believe we will be a very valuable alliance. Let us show that Ooarai and Anzio can overcome anything" 

With that, the two girls' conversation developed into a more lighthearted one discussing different things about their school and the sudden increase in recruits. The girls left the room each one had a copy of the alliance and a bright smile on their face. The Ooarai-Anzio Central Powers Alliance had been signed. 

________________________________

The next day came around and Miho got dressed in her uniform, her escorts to the meeting was going to be Marina and Ivanna. They met outside the Kuromorini Meeting room before entering in as one. 

Once inside the room, they saw Nishi from Chi-Ha-Tan and her entourage talking animatedly with Maho. Making her way over to Maho and Nishi she sat at the table keeping a rather stiff posture from when she used to be in Kuromorimine. Marina and Ivanna followed her and also kept a rigid posture. 

"Sister" bowed Miho.

She knew that her sister was in commander mode, and not in the caring sister mode that she allowed herself to reveal when they were alone. On top of that, she could rightly assume that her sister was a bit angry with her for claiming that her values... the family's values were not her own. 

"Sister" replied Maho tension in her voice

Miho blocked out what Chi-ha-tan and Maho we're discussing something about Pravda. She began reviewing the map in the middle of the table, the biggest disadvantage for Miho and her nation was the fact that Jatkosota was completely cut off from them. It meant that it would be hard to get reinforcement to them without getting Kuromorini or Pravda's permission. 

The doors opened once more and in walked in Anchovy, Florence and another girl in Blue's uniform. Anchovy was wearing her black cap and unlike yesterday had arrived with her crop in her hand. They made their way to the last available sits and sat down giving a small bow to each commander. 

"Now that everyone has arrived to hear my proposal. I propose that we create an alliance to counter the one that has been created between the Confederation and the Commonwealth. Kuromorini's hope is that by joining forces the only way they could defeat us is if they got both Saunders and Pravda to cooperate together. Of course, the rivalry between Pravda and Saunders should stop them from joining forces unless we pull a world war two Germany and attack both of them. It should not be needed to say that there will not be a repeat of Operation Barbarossa." spoke Maho in a cold tone

"What if they attack one of the members then," asked Miho

" then we will attack them, in hopes of crippling them permanently." 

"do we have plans of attacking the Confederation," asked Anchovy

"Yes, within the first in year game we want to attack both Bonple high and the Confederation" 

"what about United Saunders Alliance," asked Nishi

"I believe a wait and see policy would be the best" 

" Well who is willing to join" continued Maho 

"The Imperial Sun will join this Axis" enthusiastically spoke Nishi 

"Anzio shall also join, on the condition that we are given a land passage to Little Spain" pitched in Anchovy

All eyes turned towards Miho, a small smirk playing on Anchovy's lips as she looked at her. Clearly taking amusement in Maho's and Nishi's looks. 

Maho was looking with expectancy and a bit of apprehension while Nishi just looked a bit uncomfortable at the growing tension.

A twinge of guilt appeared in Miho's heart, she was responsible for her sister's apprehension. Her strong and fearless sister had been hurt by her declaration during that meeting. She discarded that thought, it was the right thing to do for Ooarai, this contest should also give Ooarai a lot of fame preventing any attempt to close the school in the near future. 

"I'll join. As long as the alliance joins any defensive war against the Union of Pravda" Miho answered 

"Of course the Axis will join against any incursions by the U.S.S.P, as for Anzios condition we will also respect it and grant you land to connect" diplomatically answered Maho 

"so we will officially be known as the Axis now" asked the Blue's student

"I do feel as if we're going down the same path as Germany did in real life for ww2" spoke Miho 

"Which is why we will avoid a war with this worlds Russia" interjected Maho

The four allies discussed their plan to take on the confederation for a bit longer before leaving. Nishi and Maho stuck behind for a bit to discuss how to proceed with Saunders. 

________________________________

The day had finally come, lines had been drawn and everyone who was participating was waiting anxiously to put on the VR headset. On the go-ahead, thousands of girls put the headset on laid down on the small cot, and fell into a new world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if you liked this chapter, any feedback is nice. Let me know if you spotted a mistake I made that I missed. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a good day. 
> 
> 14/08/2020  
> Signed Irish ☘


	4. Chapter 3: Interim Period: St-Gloriana and Saunders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Follow Darjeeling as she tries to set her nation up to succeed in the weeks before the game starts and follow Kay who is trying to find a way to help her unofficial ally, even if it means she has to stretch the rules.

(this chapter is dedicated to Katashiwa Kaori also know as Mommy Kaori)

1 week before The Senshado War

Darjeeling sat at her desk a cup of tea next to the map that was spread across her desk. She perhaps had gotten the worst team positioning so far. If she failed to get any allies she could be reduced to little Britain in less than a month.

She had already failed to gain a non-aggression pact from either Kuromorimine or Pravda. This meant that from day 1 she would need to evacuate Bonple back from little Poland.

Meanwhile, little Australia could easily be swept up by the Imperial Sun. Able to commit more men and material to the battlefield. Then she could spare. Little Egypt was in danger from Anzio all though she should be able to hold them back long enough to devise a plan against them, they aren't known for their expertise in warfare after all. And finally, little Canada would be completely overrun if Saunders decided to turn on them.

Thankfully Darjeeling had a fairly nice relationship with Kay. Saunders and Glorianna also have had a fairly close relationship for quite some time. Reaching over she grabbed her phone and scrolled onto contacts before sending Kay a message.

"Do you have time for a call" -Darjeeling

Scrolling down she found a group called Commonwealth and clicked on it, it contained the leader of Maple, Bonple, and Koala.

"Later tonight, Phone meeting. We're also going to need a meeting in person with the Generals and school presidents attending later this week"-Darjeeling

"I'll be there later tonight and may I recommend Friday for the in-person meeting" -Sydney(Maple)

"You can count on Bonple" - Jajka (Bonple)

"I will also be there and concur with Sydney on her recommendation" - Wallaby (Koala)

"Okay, we will have a meeting on Friday." -Darjeeling (St-Glorianna)

Before Darjeeling could put her phone back down she received another message.

"Yeah, I've got time for a call right now. Is this a formal call or informal?"- Kay

"Both" -Darjeeling

The phone started ringing a few minutes later and she answered hearing an energetic Kay.

"Darjeeling, how are you and the girls doing," Kay spoke with unreserved energy which reminded her of Rosehip if a bit less energetic than that girl.

"Hello Kay, the girls are doing well. This competition has them in high spirits not to mention the school's eagerness. I'm a bit stressed over The commonwealth's position. How about you Kay" replied Darjeeling a small smile playing on her lips as she kept her regular elegance in her speech.

" Tell me about it, the hype the students have over this tournament is insane, we've already received plenty of recruits for Naval, Air, and Army. I've been personally busy with researching wars and battles from WW2 and the cold war. If things get too stressful over there Darjeeling your welcome to come to take a trip in our jacuzzis." You could practically hear the smirk on Kay's lips.

"The offer is a welcome one. Do you want to get the formal things out of the way." Darjeeling asked a light blush on her cheeks and a wish to change topics.

"Of course, let us get the boring parts out of the way so I can go back to teasing you" Kay easily replied

" I'll be frank with you Kay, the Commonwealth is in a bit of a pinch. Were going to lose Bonple's territory to Kuromorini, Pravda, or Ooarai. Perhaps a combination of all three. Without you as our ally then Maple and Koala Forest are most likely going to fall also. I have already started some talks with BC and were probably going to be allies but other than them were surrounded by enemies. Pravda has also ceased any communications with us."

"Darjeeling, I don't believe we can ally with you right away. We've signed a mutual treaty with the Imperial sun that as long as we don't join you and they don't join Kuromorimine. We can sign a Non-aggression pact with you and supply you with supplies. Not to mention the political situation here in Saunders. The school president wants us to adopt a wait and see policy for at least one year. Not allying or attacking anybody. " Kay sounded as if it was physically hurting her that she couldn't formalize an alliance with her

"oh" was the only sound heard from Darjeeling side. Her face had fallen, she had hoped that a combined alliance between the U.S.A (United Saunders Alliance), Commonwealth, and Confederation would have allowed them to at least threaten Kuromorimine's cities on the border and Anzio's Little Spain. Giving her some time to come up with a better plan.

"I'm sorry Darjeeling, I promise an alliance as soon as my hands are untied." softly spoke Kay

"I believe this scenario is starting to resemble WW2 a little too much for my comfort. All we need now is for the axis to be formed... Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong. That quotes from Churchill... lets hope we get the chance to grow." Darjeeling removed the phone from her ear and let her finger hover over the end call button.

"I've got a meeting I have to run off too. See you Kay" Darjeeling pressed the end call placed her phone on her desk and rested her head on her hands. Seeing her book Churchill Four Faces and the Man sitting on her desk she muttered to herself

"Let's hope we don't get thrown into the same situation as you"

________________________________

One hour before the Meeting

There was an hour left before she met with the Commonwealth and she had been trying to get in contact with Miho. Her theory was fully formed on speculations but she couldn't afford to wait. If there was a sibling spat between Miho and Maho she had to exploit... as much as her conscience recoiled at the thought of exploiting someone she considered a friend.

It wouldn't matter if she couldn't get into contact with Miho. Finding the student council's phone number she pressed called and waited. The ringing continuing in the background a few times before a voice suddenly spoke.

"Hello this is Ooarai High school, how may I help you." the voice of Saori, Miho's radio operator, filtered through the phone speaker.

" Yes, this is Darjeeling. I was hoping that you could hand this phone over to Miho, I haven't been able to contact her"

" Oh, Miho is currently at Kuromorimine to meet with Maho but-"

"Saori! Don't give out intelligence to potential enemies" Yukaries voice could distantly be heard as she yelled at Saori

"Don't worry about it Saori. I'll find another way to contact her" Darjeeling politely said before hanging up. She had hoped to convince Miho to at least stay neutral but her worst predictions were becoming true.

She had one hour to find a solution that she could present, then she spotted an old book on the counter. Royal Navy in World war 2. That's it, she'll create a big enough Navy to defend the Isles, Little Canada, and Little Australia.

________________________________

Meanwhile in Saunders

Kay was pacing the room, attempting to find other way's she could find to wiggle an alliance with Darjeeling. She didn't want to be relegaded to be like Roosevelt of the States during ww2. Chewing gum in her mouth she paced towards the left than towards the right. This was a nervous tick of hers, not being able to sit still, usually, a gum would do but right now she had no idea what do to which was making her even more nervous.

Turning back to the Non-Aggression pact signed with Chi-Ha-Tan. It stated that No Military action can be performed against each other. On top of that, the school president of Saunders had decided to sign a pact saying that the Imperial Sun would not get involved in any alliance with Kuromorimine. Meanwhile, Saunders would refrain from allying both St-Glorianna and the Confederation.

Perhaps other help than the Military could be given, supplies were already promised. Perhaps some intelligence services could be given. Yes, that's what she'll do, get some very proficient spy's and send them as ambassadors to other nations. Yes, that could work now to find somebody to lead this department.

"Alisa" Muttered Kay

She would be perfect to start this department up. Of course, Alisa would be more useful in the field commanding with her cunning nature and all. If only she could temper that brashness and anxiety she would be a very good contender for the commander position.

Reaching for her phone Kay started dialing her number.

________________________________

Commonwealth Meeting

Darjeeling was talking with the other leaders about their dire situation.

"Bonple refuses to simply abandon our cities. Even if practical it would be a blow to our pride that we simply can not take"

"I understand Jajka. Can you at least set your army up so that we can get you out of there if you're being overrun"

"yes, we can do that not that I'm happy to set us up for defeat," replied Jajka bitter over the command

"I just fear that the french won't attack. It would only get the school eliminated and out of the competition before you can do anything of significance"

"Perhaps we could have some of the soldiers hide within the cities. To strike later on through guerilla tactics after the army has passed over." Jajka attempted to find a compromise. Not comfortable with simply leaving what has been deemed as their territory but understanding the situation Darjeeling had found herself in.

"That would be preferable to a futile defense. Does that mean you will retreat with most of the army." Darjeeling inquired, perhaps one thing could go her way.

"Not most, about half will retreat, the other half will be split between guerrilla tactics and a token defensive line who will be tasked with convincing Kuromorimine to wait a month or two," Jajka replied

" Sound reasoning" replied Darjeeling before continuing

"Next I want Maple, Koala, and St-Gloriannas to invest in a proper sailors club and encourage people to join that club. If we can get enough sailors and boats perhaps we can defend most of our land even if we lose in Little France"

"Of course Maple will follow your orders... but that will mean we can only field a small army" pitched in Sydney

"I'd rather have a small but disciplined army than a large undisciplined one. Like Washington said Discipline is the soul of an Army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to all of the weak, and esteem to all"

"Koala will also follow your orders."

"Good, now for our plan of action, I have on good word that the Imperial Sun should not attack us but just in case I want Koala to keep their troops in Little Pacific, I can confirm 100% that Saunders will sign a Non-aggression pact with us so Maple I want you to send your troops over to little Britain"

"Got it" replied Sydney

"Will do Darjeeling" replied Wallaby

"Right well, I think that's all for today" concluded Darjeeling

________________________________

Inside Saunders a day before the Senshado War

Kay was currently in a meeting with Alisa and her small intelligence department. Around 50 members sat in front of her excluding Alise. She had reviewed their files and Alise had given them a test which they passed.

"Intelligence is crucial during battles, many battles have been won and lost before it even began thanks to good Intelligence. To this point, this is why we have gathered you here today. The fact is that Saunders is going to need more than superior firepower to win." Kay spoke with conviction

Alisa which had studied this mission she had been given intensively walked up in front of them.

"I will be your commanding officer in till further notice, although I expect one of you to replace me before we start a war as I'm more of a tank commander than espionage expert. We will split you into two groups. 1st group will join us in the VR world and will spy on potential enemies in the field. The second group will stay here and will be tasked with two jobs, first is counter-espionage stopping any teams from spying on us, second, you will infiltrate enemy schools and find out some information on the enemy. You will continue recruiting potential spies, Assasins, and saboteurs, one of them will join us in VR every month and deliver a report to the Intelligence officers already there. Any questions?" Alisa spoke with a serious air that surprised Kay

"Are we going to be tasked with assassinating and sabotaging enemies inside?" asked one of the recruiters

"Yes" was the short response given by Alisa

"Now the rest of today will be cramming as much Knowledge into you as we can before deciding who's gonna take care of things here as well as who will follow us into the VR system," Alisa said with a tone that said that the conversation was finished.

Going to her a corner of the table she pulled a small notebook out of a slightly messy pile of files and books, three books that piqued Kay's interest was War as I Knew it by George S. Patton, the Secret War by Max Hastings, and the Art of Betrayal by Gordon Corera.

" Everything in here will cover legalities and illegalities of certain actions as well as a teaching guide for every recruit to go through." Alisa continued

"Now the biggest rule of all here is that everything goes. Legal or illegal just don't get caught especially in the VR cause you'll get shot and eliminated. " Alisa finished

"Alisa! No breaking the rules." Kay interjected

"All's fair in love and war Kay, this includes spying which may I remind you, is already in the grey area. Plus with any luck, nobody will know about this" Alisa turned on Kay an eyebrow raised.

"Fine.... just make sure I don't know about the rule-breaking and don't get caught." Kay reluctantly backed down.

The rest of the day had been spent teaching the recruits as they could before assigning a young sneaky girl named Josephine Donovan the position for Head of Intelligence outside VR.

________________________________

Sensahado War

Kay took a deep breath as she grabbed her headset, donning it on she closed her eyes and laid down on her cot. Her mind still racing a mile an hour on how else she could help Darjeeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to Thank Katashiwa Kaori (Mommy Kaori) for all the support she's given me with this story as well as volunteering to draw a new map for me to replace my dreadful one that I made, you can also thank her for this early chapter. Again I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, next chapter takes place in the VR world and things should start kicking off.
> 
> Signed Irish ☘️


	5. The Calm Before the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first month inside of the Vr with plans being made and treaties signed. The lines are being drawn.

Ooarai Empire Capital

Miho sat in her desk overseeing the city below her, this had been designated as the capital of the Ooarain Empire. She still remembered her first reactions to waking up in this world. 

She had just put the VR system headset on and rested on the coat and closed her eyes only to open them and see a city expanding itself in front of her. The buildings had the aesthetic of a 1930's building. The city was bustling with what the creator had called NHE or non-human entities, to bring life in these cities and villages. 

Turning to her right she noticed that most of Anglerfish and Turtle team had been spawned here. They were wearing their Senshado uniform and were staring at their surrounding buildings in awe. 

Feeling a weight in her pocket Miho reaches into it and pulls a small letter. Opening the letter, still staring at the magnificence of the buildings surrounding her and the crowds of humans that were passing by and going to stores. It honestly felt like she had traveled back in time to the '30s. 

The letter contained a Map as well as a small note, quickly reading it over it said that she was in the Capital of the Ooarai Empire, their equipment was in storage buildings who's location could be found in the government building that would be her palace. It also informed her that there would be a No-war period of 1 month to allow all nations to fully equip themselves.

The map contained all parts of the city as well as some nearby Military facilities, A military base where the rest of the Ooarai army could be found as well as an Airfield where the Ooarai airforce would be found. It also showed where the palace was in the city. 

Now Miho sat here pouring over, paper after paper with the help of turtle team and anglerfish team. It had been a few days now and she had gotten into contact with both Marina, Ivanna, and Mika and had tasked them with getting their people equipped.

Miho had done the same on her end and around 80% of all personnel had their equipment delivered. She knew that by the end of the month Kuromorimine would be starting their war and Miho hadn't yet decided if she should join right away or bid her time a bit as to build up some defenses on the Pravda border.

The phone suddenly started ringing and Saori picked it up as Miho signed off on the proposal that Marina and Ivanna had come forward with which would have their troops train together as to be a better fighting force in the future. Miho was planning to also send the Ooarai girls over to participate in the training.

"Miho it's for you, it's Maho" Saori called for her holding up the phone.

Nodding her head Miho picked up the phone on her desk putting it on her ear as the line was transferred.

"Hello, Fuhrer Maho," Miho answered

"I will get straight to the point Miho, Kuromorimine is planning to attack the Commonwealth at the end of this month. We hope to blitz through little Poland before the rest of the commonwealth can even hope to reach them. I'm requesting that Ooarai join this war as to be able to sweep up through the south."

"I'm not sure if we'll be ready for it. Plus Pravda could easily take advantage and attack us."

"It doesn't need to be much just a few Corp's. Plus I can guarantee that we'll have them annihilated in a month. As well as Pravda's cooperation in the matter."

" fine, I'll deploy some troops. You owe me Maho"

"Of course Kaiserin. You won't have to worry about Anzio as they have decided to only declare war when we start our offensive on little France and some treaty that Chi-Ha-Tan had signed won't allow them to go at war with them" Maho continued in her trademark cold voice

"Is that all Maho" Miho hated the thought of having to go to war so early on even if she wouldn't really take part. 

________________________________

Near little Gdansk 

"Everybody form a single line, I want this to be an orderly and disciplined affair" yelled Jajka as she guided certain girls towards the boats from St-Gloriana that were docked in port.

The beautiful town of Gdańsk certainly couldn't beat little Warsaw but it was still amazing. The sight of a few hundred boats at the docking with the Bonple and St-Gloriana flag flying side by side. The ships themselves looked stunning, there were a few destroyer class ships but most of the were transport ships. At the docks, you could see tanks, planes, and crates full of ammo, fuel, weapons, and other war material being set on the boat.

Leading up and into the boats were hundreds of girls dressed in Khaki jackets with a white shirt underneath, they had a field cap on their head, khaki skirts with black boots marching in unison to the boats.

It certainly was a sight to behold, to bad it was for leaving such a great place as Little Poland and not to defend it.

She would be the last one on the ships, it was the least she could do.

________________________________

Little Egypt, near little Cairo

Rosehip was currently attempting to swipe the sweat off her brows with a small napkin as she dove back into her crusader tank. The engine department of the tank had currently been opened as she grabbed a wrench and started working on the engine.

She had figured out multiple ways that you could tweak the engine as to give the crusader some extra speed. She had made the same tweak to her entire crusader platoon but since all the tanks were with their historical specifications she had to modify all of them again.

Not that she minded, unlike most students in St-Gloriana she preferred being her own mechanic. This allowed her to know every intricacy of her tank and allow her to push it to its maximum capacity.

It also allowed her to clear her mind after being frustrated, teased, scolded, and other anger-inducing scenarios, which was the reason why she was working on her tank in the mid-day heat in little Africa.

For some reason, Darjeeling had decided to give the command in this area to Rukuriri. If there was one person who thought the opposite of her it was Rukuriri. Where she preferred an aggressive attack, she preferred a slow cautious attack. Where she preferred speed and surprise, Rukuriri preferred armor and planning.

Honestly, being in the same tent as her could drive her up the wall. Not to mention that she looked down on her for not being a proper elegant lady. Elegance wouldn't matter if you failed anyway.

This was why she was tinkering with the crusaders under her command which was a division's worth of tanks. She was a division commander with almost 350 tanks under her command.

Although ecstatics that she was the youngest Major General in St-Gloriana's army, she was also incredibly annoyed at the orders saying that she would not be allowed to follow her division into battle.

How was she supposed to inspire the girls under her to follow a first year's orders into battle when she wouldn't be leading them. Nobody had asked J.E.B Stuart to stay back while he ordered his cavalry around or ordered the officers of the Scots Greys to sit back at camp.

Of course, she wasn't planning on obeying those orders, it was better to lead from the front than to cower in the back. Not to mention she wanted to shoot at some enemies.

Leaning back in a way we're her butt was resting on her feet, her hands full of grease were resting on her lap. She looked at the numerous tools she had used during the tinkering of the engine all around her.

She started picking them up and made her way towards the toolbox. That was her personal crusader done with, only another 150 tanks before her whole platoon has the customized tanks. 

________________________________

Little Moscow, Clandestine Room

Outside an inconspicuous building a small car drove up, completely black and with black tinted windows it stopped in front of the building. The road was completely emptied and void of life, only two guards could be seen standing outside the building. They were dressed in a dark blue NKVD officer uniform with an officer cap, they were holding a rifle with a bayonet at the end across their chest. 

As the car stopped a short girl with a white hoody that was pulled up to obscure her face exited out of the car, she was carrying a small briefcase. She quickly made her way to the door and showed a piece of paper, the guard nodded and the girl entered the building. Another guard showed up and led her deeper into the building, it was very simplistic with basic lights and bland walls. 

Entering a small room with only one table and two chairs of which one was already occupied by a tall girl with upper back length blond hair and light blue eyes, she was also wearing the NKVD uniform except for having a gold shoulder and forgoing wearing the officer's cap. She also had a holstered pistol. 

The other girl brought down her hood revealing light brown hair and light brown eyes. The girl sat down on the opposite side of the girl and brought the suitcase up onto the table. Opening it she retrieved multiple documents from the case before placing them in a neat pile on the table. 

" Good evening, my names Sheshka I'm the representative sent by Kuromorimine for these negotiations," the girl said in a sophisticated voice 

"I am Klara, I will be negotiating for Katyusha. So you have stated in the letter you sent that you wish to make a Non-aggression pact with Pravda" there was a hint of curiosity in the cold tone that Klara had adopted

"Kuromorimine is offering a non-aggression pact with Pravda, we are also offering one the most eastward section including one city of Bonple as well. In return, we ask for you to invade Little Poland at the same time as Kuromorimine"

"I'm afraid that that is simply not enough for Pravda to declare war on the western Allies, but we do find you giving the eastern section of Little Poland to us is good enough for a Non-Aggression pact" Klara replied boldly

Gritting her teeth Sheska replied, "what do you want Kuromorimine to do to convince Pravda to invade Little Poland?" 

Klara gave a predatory like a smile as she said " promise us to not get involved in any war between Ooarai and Pravda" 

" As long as you only take a maximum of 2 cities from them, they will be at war with the western allies and it would be nice to have an ally to competently take care of the Little Mediterranean" 

"As long as you do not get involved in the war we'll join in your war against the western allies" 

Sheska grabs a pen and takes two pieces of paper and signs them. "sign these to formalize your agreement that you will invade Little Poland and form a Non-aggression pact" 

Sheska passes over two pieces of paper and meanwhile, Klara calls out in Russian "Получите документы, товарищ" (Get the papers Comrade) 

Klara proceeded to read over the papers before signing them as she signed the papers another girl dressed in the same uniform entered the room and handed Sheska two papers before exiting out of the room. 

Reading over Sheska saw that it agreed that Pravda would attack Little Poland and the Western Allies and in return, Kuromorimine would not get involved in any war between Pravda and Ooarai. Reluctantly bringing the pen to the paper she signed both copies (one for each party) counsel herself with knowing that Ooarai was not the most trustworthy ally for what they pulled in that meeting. Who would declare Kuromorimine values as inferior to someone else... not even Pravda had done that before. 

Grabbing the two pieces of paper she put it in her briefcase, the final piece for Kuromorimine's war had been placed. The war would start at the end of the month and as Sheska walked away she was sure that this war would decide everything. 

________________________________

Little Ooarai, Palace

Miho looked at the calendar, there was approximately half of the month left before hostilities would start. Which meant she had half a month to prepare her nation to be able to go at war with Pravda if need be, although stressful she was secured in the knowledge that if it did happen that she would have the full weight of Kuromorimine on her side. That didn't mean that she should slack off though. 

Some good news was that the Anzio-Ooarai Joint-Military exercise which had been masqueraded as border skirmishes had been going incredibly well with some of the tank commanders and infantry generals learning plenty of lessons in this controlled environment that would simulate future battles. 

Meanwhile in the East Marina and Ivanna had been doing some training together learning how to work with each other and support each other. 

This had also had the effect of creating a bond between both armies. It was a bit of a shame that Miho would have to stop it, they would need to set themselves up in defensive positions on the Pravda border. 

Katyusha had refused to answer any of her calls which meant that more likely than not she could expect some type of surprise attack as was her preferred strategy. 

Putting a pen to paper she started writing out her orders, who would have thought being commander would mean she would have to write more often than in writing class. The orders were quite simple, Marina and her troops would take care of one half of the frontline and Ivanna would take care of the other half. They were tasked with building some defensive positions and preparing the troops for any type of surprise offensive into their territory.

Meanwhile, a combined force of Ooarain and Anzio tanks and infantry would move to the border with Little Poland where they would drill and prepare to attack into Little Poland. Although technically Anzio's forces will be a volunteer-based force as to keep Anzio's image of Neutrality in till they can fully commit themselves to the war. 

Getting up Miho walked over to Saori her staff officer and handed her the orders before walking away Miho turned to Saori. 

"Can you get me Mika on the phone Saori, I need to talk to her." she tiredly asked 

"No problem Miporin, you should get a good night's sleep tonight you look dead." she pointed out as she went about her work. 

Miho gave her a tired smile took a look around, Saori had gathered a very competent administration section with Hana and Anzu's help. Talking about them both Turtle team and Anglerfish team had been working non-stop to get everything in order. From what Miho had heard it been the same for both Kuromorimine and Anzio and the rest of the nations. 

Entering her office she collapsed into her chair and looked up exhaustedly, she had been in this office for two weeks doing almost 18 hours of work per day sleeping 4 hours and the other two hours was her eating and showering. 

*Ring, Ring*

Looking at the phone she picked it up and spoke. 

"Hello, is this Mika" 

"Ah Miho I was wondering when you would call, I hope you don't mind that we took some initiative on what to do this past few weeks past what your orders told us to do." 

"No, I don't mind as long as it doesn't start a war with anybody. Please do tell me what you have done these past weeks though." 

"Well we mostly inspected the territory near the border with Pravda, this is almost exactly like real life Finland with plenty of lakes, villages, small roads, and lots of dense forests. We've also done some spying on Pravda"

"Please tell me you didn't get caught" Miho interjected 

"No we've been fine, we even stole a truck full of weapons and ammo"

"Mika, please refrain from letting your troops steal Pravda's equipment and if you do scout out their forces keep it at a distance so you don't get caught. Is there anything else I should be aware of?"

"We've built a few forts near Little Vyborg near the Pravda borders and some other forts in key defensive locations further up north." 

"Okay, I want you to set up the Jatkosota armies in a defensive position and dig in, I don't want Pravda to simply overrun you before we can get some support through Little Sweden to you." 

"Of course, well make them fear the snow and trees. We've also set up our own little intelligence department, can we continue with them."

"yes, you can continue with that, try to infiltrate some of their military ranks if possible but don't get caught and I don't want to know what's happening unless the info is valuable, I need to be able to deny any spying claims." 

"Of course Miho, we wouldn't wish to drag Ooarai and the other schools into this personal rivalry." 

"That will be all Mika, stay safe." 

"Always Miho, The wind shall protect all those who are cautious" 

Miho hanged up looked into the sky and muttered "an Intelligence gathering department why didn't I think of that" she finished it off slightly frustrated before getting to drafting an Ooarai Secret Imperial Intelligence Office, perhaps Anchovy would be interested in cooperating with Ooarai on a cooperative agency. 

________________________________

In Little Hawaii 2 days before the war

Alisa sat in her office looking through the pile of intelligence that they had gathered. Already they had been able to plant scouts and spy's in almost every country, it was rather easy considering the influx every school had of recruits.

Although Alisa knew she would have to start working on a counterintelligence group, if they had learned anything from their spying was that they were even more vulnerable than they could have possibly thought.

Most of the intelligence gathered was simple information like the strength of the armies, how each nation was preparing for war. All still important but nothing too top secret.

Pulling a file in front of her she read the title; Klara-Sheska pact. Opening the file with curiosity she started reading through the information, it was from one of their NKVD spies.

The NKVD ( Noble Katyusha Vigilant Devotees) was a special group made to purge disloyal and unpatriotic individuals and to execute Katyusha's will without question. Luckily they had been able to infiltrate said organizations with a spy that was a simple guard able to listen in on conversations.

As she continued going through the file Saunder's worst fears were slowly realized. Pravda and Kuromorimine had signed a pact not to attack each other, Kuromorimine had actually betrayed one of their allies in the process.

Perhaps they could secretly leak this and have their allies turn on them. That would certainly be helpful for St-Gloriana their unofficial ally. Well, little Poland had already been mostly evacuated so this shouldn't be terrible.

Setting the file aside she put a post-it note on it, she would need to brief Kay on this. The next file made her mentally flinch.

It was a simple short message from two of the teams: Team Italia and Team Independence have been compromised, presumed dead. No border conflict between Ooarai and Anzio.

She sighed at this and placed it next to her as well. Another one to brief Kay on. That had been the second attempt this month to work they're way into Ooarai and Anzio.

They're counterintelligence systems have been working extremely well. Probably because those schools were considerably smaller than most other schools, meanwhile nobody yet had been able to match Blue and Anzio's knowledge of food.

Alisa looked outside her window as she wished that she was out on the field, training her own proper tank division like Naomi was doing.

Looking back down she grabbed her pistol and inspected it, it was a colt 1911 with ivory handles and a unique design on the barrel depicting her tank.

She put it back down on the desk gently and got back to work reading reports and sending out orders. If only Anzio and Ooarai could be infiltrated then they would have their fingers on everything and would know about everything before it happens.

Well, she might as well make the most of being the leader of a group of spies, she'd make sure that nothing could happen without her knowing about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, next chapter we should start seeing some action. Please Comment and review it helps me see how the reader (you guys) are liking the story so far as well as what your not liking. 
> 
> Signed Irish🍀  
> 21/08/2020


	6. War to End All Wars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Invasion of Bonple begans as armies roll in from three sides.

In the center on the border of Little Poland  
1st February

Maho was sitting in her commander's seat, binoculars to her face, she was staring at the river bank that stretched for miles on either side. She stared at the bridge that officially marked the land between the Kuromorimine Reich and the Commonwealth. The only thing that was bothering her was that there were no defences built, it made her job easier but it also made her uncomfortable. Did they know that they'd be attacking the first of February, were they waiting in ambush just a bit farther to make retreats harder.

These questions racked her mind as she sat on top of her Panzer III F, the main battle tank for Kuromorimine at this moment in time, she would receive the Panthers, Tigers after 2 years, and the King Tigers, Jagdtiger and Elefant after 3 years. This was to stimulate tank development during the game.

Bringing her hand to her mic she orders " Operation Fall Weiss is officially a go. Panzer Vor." The order echoed out to all The Reich forces as a small cheer was let out as the tanks lurched forward leaving tracks in the soft snow behind them. The temperature was still cold but wasn't anything bad.

Maho's Panzer III led the spearhead followed by more Panzer III's, Panzer 38t's and Panzer 35t's as well as Panzer IVD's. Behind the tanks were groups of infantry which were marching down towards the river with a few groups inside trucks rolling a few meters behind the tanks.

Up above in the air perfectly timed with the tanks starting to cross the river waves after waves of aircraft flew overhead into Commonwealth territory. Maho continued driving being the tip of the spearhead going deeper into the commonwealth territory.

They continued driving for another 30 minutes the infantry had started lagging behind and Maho wanted to take advantage of the lack of enemies to capture as many towns and villages on the road to Little Warszawa (Warsaw).

Arriving at the top of a small rolling hill she saw in the distance a small village which could probably house a few hundred people. Bringing her binoculars to her face she looked on ahead seeing another hill behind the village creating a small valley with the village being the center of it. There were also four roads leading in different directions from the village, one went towards the south another two went towards Little Warszawa in the east and one went up north.

Taking a quick look to her right she saw one of the tanks of the different brigades arriving on top of the hill, a look to the other side found the same results. A quick peek behind her found the infantry around 600m behind them with the motorized infantry 200 meters.

Her mind processed this information as quickly as possible as she brought her hand up to the mic and she spoke.

"All Panzer Units continue advancing and converge on the village, we will wait for the infantry to catch up with us. Keep a vigilant eye we are in enemy territory. "

She heard plenty of Ja's from the regiment commanders as she continued her own regiment advance on the road leading to the village. There was an odd feeling brewing inside of her as if somebody was watching her.

Bringing her binoculars to her face she spotted a small glint in the corner hidden just below the crevice of the road heading north. The roads had been made in such a way that they bubbled out allowing you to hypothetically hid something behind them.

Quickly scanning to the right she spotted some more glints of metal and even one or two from the hill behind the village.

Eyes widening in shock Maho brought her hand to her mic and shouted " Ambush"

Just as a wave of metal and a few dozen loud Booms were heard. All in front of Maho's forces around 50 anti-tank guns opened fire. With around 15 hidden on the road on each side of the village, 10 inside the village and 10 in the hill behind.

All along the road and from the houses in the village rifles and machine guns cracked open as volley after volley of deadly lead rained down upon the tanks. The infantry forcing the commanders to duck into their tanks or get shot.

Maho has sucked into her tank seconds before a shower of bullets sprayed where she use to be. Two shells landed around her tank and one hit the front part but bounced off the front.

"Gunner aim at the anti-tank guns in the village" Maho ordered as she proceeded to close the commander's hatch of the tank.

" All tanks take out those AT guns, Motorise infantry disembark and assault that town, infantry I need you up to double-time it."

Maho's tank stopped for a few seconds just long enough for the gunner to bring her sights onto one of the AT guns and shoot just barely missing the gun and smashing into a building behind it.

To the left a group of tanks led by Koume charged the road, there were already 3 burning tanks in the field, with one that had ammunition cooking off.

On the right side, a newer tank commander led her regiment into the fray against the AT guns. There were 2 tanks knocked out of action although they were not on fire.

Shells were flying everywhere with infantry gunfire hitting Maho's tank, the constant pings of the bullets were easily ignored by her as she looked around.

"Fire" she ordered her gunner as she watched as another shell went flying into the at gun smashing the small 37mm gun into multiple pieces and flinging different body parts away from the gun as the three girls that were using it was killed an had been turned into mangled versions of themselves.

Another shell scrapped the side of the panzer as she continued leading the advance deeper. She already had 4 tanks under her command which had been knocked out. With two of them having impressive fire columns reaching into the sky.

The Kuromorimine infantry had just gotten into range as they started firing back. With the motorizes infantry starting to make their way towards the village. Another 4 tanks were taken out by the AT guns as the Kuromorimine tanks continued firing back taking out 3 AT guns for each tank that was lost.

All of a sudden a loud boom was heard as Maho's tank was shaken up, an artillery shell had just landed next to her. This was followed by multiple other explosions that shook the tanks as they landed nearby creating craters the size of half a car.

Another shell slammed into a building as part of it collapsed onto an At gun position crushing the crew and the infantry inside the buildings.

On the road the small firing line was wilted away by machinegun fire by the tanks and the AT guns had dropped to only 3 left as the girls desperately loaded and fired the guns so quickly that the barrels started turning red with heat.

Maho ordered "infantry in the building 30 degrees to the right, fire some HE at it"

The gun kicked back as the gunner followed Maho's orders and the building was smashed with a shell that created a hole in it. The machine-gun was quickly fired into the new hole gunning down a few girls who fell down to their deaths or who were killed falling to the floor.

"AT gun 20 degrees left"

The gun roared once more at the same time as the At guns did and the AT gun was smashed to pieces with only one of the girls surviving after being blown a few feet away from it.

A shell from one of the last AT guns hit Maho's tank and a loud cry of pain was heard from the machine gunner as metal shards were plastered onto her face.

The infantry was now only 100 meters away from the tanks as Maho's was the first one into the village crushing one of the damaged AT guns that had a group of dead girls around it bullet holes filling their body.

On the left side, the tanks had reached the road with the infantry just behind them following them up one side of the road and down the other side shooting their guns and killing what was left of the Bonple defence.

On the right side, the last AT gun was crushed by one of the tanks as the machine-gun burst open slaughtering the few Bonple forces trying to run away.

From the sky came a group of planes, the Stuka (dive bomber) planes siren screamed as they dropped their bombs on to the artillery silencing the explosions which hadn't let up and had caused considerable casualties to the infantry.

Out of buildings came a few Bonple soldiers their arms raised in a surrender stepping over a group of dead civilians that had gotten caught in the crossfire calling out saying they surrender, they were soon followed by the rest of the girls who were alive on the side of Bonple.

The first shots of the war had just been heard and although the battle had only lasted 10-15 minutes the changes to the girls who had survived would last forever.

The field was littered with small craters and contained a dozen tanks and a few hundred dead girls who had attacked the Bonple infantry. Body parts, blood and corpses were all over the field. The tanks in the field had smoke columns rising into the sky.

The village had multiple collapsed buildings with even more which had holes in them, of which you could find plenty that you could still see Bonple girls hanging out of them, blood dripping from their bodies.

There was a combination of both civilians and girls strewn through the city, from girls who had tried to cross the roads to the AT girls who laid dead next to their destroyed guns, loyal to them even into death.

Maho opened her hatch as she looked around, the smell of gunpowder, blood, steel, fuel and death filled the air and within a few seconds, the shield she had put around herself to ignore it during battle broke and she bent over the turret and threw up just barely missing the tank and hitting the ground.

Sitting back down she whipped her mouth and ordered: " all troops create a defensive perimeter around the village, we will move out in 10 minutes to the next village."

She looked around once more at the destruction, a soft gasp escaping her as she saw a small girl riddled with bullets holding onto what could only be her mother.

Shaking her head she cursed at the realism of this system and concentrated on what needed to come next.

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South Poland with the Ooarai forces  
100km south of Little Warszawa  
5 February

Miho was watching with her binoculars as the city before her lay open to for her forces to take. There was a small defence line on its outskirts but it was so pitiful that it would practically fall apart as soon as she started the assault on the town.

They had a line of foxholes around the town with a few AT guns. The only real threat was the group of polish tanks that she had spotted in the town itself. They would most likely either retreat or attempt to slow down her forces long enough to allow other Bonple forces to retreat.

The defences of Bonple had been abysmal from the beginning of this campaign, She had lost a handful of tanks and only about 1000 infantry had been killed or injured. They had driven more than 300 Km in 5 days. She knew that her forces were tired and that supplies were strained as it was but she also knew that if she took the city of Little Radom that Little Warszawa would be open for the taking.

So far the small Anzio Volunteer forces led by Carppacio had been doing well too, having taken even fewer casualties and keeping up with the Ooarai girls in their ferocious attacks. They had certainly proved themselves in combat.

Miho had the Artillery set up behind the hill as she prepared her forces to launch an attack on the enemy. The was no reason to mindlessly charge the enemy lines when she could afford to soften them up with a bit of artillery and some planes.

She turned towards Saori "Get me Sakura on the line and Carppacio"

Sakura was the Air marshal of Ooarais air force, she was the best pilot Ooarai had and had done an incredible job at training all the new girls who had signed up.

Saori simply nodded and fiddled with the radio changing the radio signals of her commander's headset and her radio before grabbing the small phone and putting it to her ear. Mako was leaning backwards-looking exhausted while Hana and Yukari had fallen asleep from the exhaustion of continuous fighting and driving.

"Saori, we need a bombing run on the enemy tanks in that village" Miho spoke to Saori before sticking her head back out of the commander's hatch and brought her Binoculars to her face.

She heard Saori say "Sakura this is Saori speaking we need an airstrike on grid coordinates 51N 21E Sector E."

Studying the enemy lines she spoke into her Mic " Carppacio get your artillery into position were gonna bombard those trench lines in till our airstrikes arrive. I'll do the same with our artillery."

She heard a si in response and ducked back into her tank looking at Saori who turned to her.

"Miporin the planes have an ETA of 80 minutes" Saori spoke to her quickly and clearly

"I want you to tell both Anzu and Erwin to continue their push on our left towards Little Lodz and connect with Maho's forces who have been encountering more resistance than us and change my mic back to the Ooarai frequency" Ordered Miho

"Right away Miporin" Saori curtly responded

They were both tired and wanted to finish this up quickly.

Rising back out of the commander's hatch she spoke to her troops "Alright, 210th, 142nd, and 58th artillery battalions I want you to put as many shells on Grid E Sector D 32,28. Everybody else prepares yourself for an assault on that town after this we can take a day's rest. The assault will start in an hour and 10 minutes."

In the next few minutes, a one-hour-long bombardment started

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South Poland with the Ooarai forces  
Little Radom city, one hour later  
5 February

Miho had watched as the shells landed one after another for around an hour, what once had been a well maned defensive line was now riddled with shell holes, an hour of meticulously guiding the artillery shells around to each Mg position and At Gun spot had resulted in the destruction of most of them. The Ground stretching for 8km on each direction around the town was filled with craters and the once green grass and bushes dotting the landscape was now nothing more than a dull mush of brown dirt.

"Good luck Everyone, remember once we capture Radom we can rest and I promise you all a warm meal in the City plaza." Miho kept her small speech short and quick.

"Panzor Vor" Miho ordered

The assault commenced as a volley from the Panzer IV Ds who had just crested the hill shot into the defensive lines, machine guns fire erupted from both sides and shots whizzed by Miho as she stood in her chair, still as a rock.

Her hair flared behind her as the infantry following her would have sworn that she looked like a goddess on the battlefield never flinching as she spoke into her mic and lead her forces from the front fearlessly.

A few surviving enemy AT guns fired valiantly into the horde of tanks, managing to hit one Panzer 2 F and knocking it out of action. A wave of shots from a group of Anzio's Tankettes (C33) knocked out the guns as their 13mm Machine-guns shot through the Bonple crew.

A stiff but fruitless defence was put up by the bonple infantry using the craters in a desperate attempt to stop the ferocious advance. The tanks were around 500 meters from the defensive line and 1000 meters from the city itself and the infantry was around 200 meters behind them.

Miho had her binoculars to her face as she directed Hana's and Saori's fire on to remaining infantry positions. Shots continued to whiz past her head as she turned her head towards a road leading to the town, she spotted a small brown vehicle and immediately recognized it as some of the best tanks of the Bonple army. The 7TP which could stand up to early Panzer III and IV. They came racing out of the town, around 60 tanks strong supported by 40 Vickers 6 tons.

The armoured brigade formed a diamond formation and Miho immediately ordered all tanks to halt and aim at the polish forces. The first volley came from the moving polish forces, as they fired and shots whizzed past Miho, two of them landing next to her tank and throwing dirt all over her.

The tank behind her a Panzer III was hit in the side and three of the crew members were able to escape the tank before it was engulfed in a fiery blaze. Some Italian M13/39 were also knocked out of action.

In total, around 18 tanks out of the 200 were knocked out of action.

Miho brought her hand up to her mic and ordered " fire" she was still standing outside her tank as a few more bullets went flying past her.

She watched as the volley of shells from her tanks flew into the Bonple formation, the lead tank was the first hit with it catching fire immediately and a big column of smoke rose into the air. The next tank was hit and exploded the turret popping off and flying into the air. Just from the first volley around 37 tanks were on fire or had been stopped.

The infantry had caught up to the tanks now and had thrown themselves onto the floor and kept shooting at the Bonple infantry which was taking advantage of the temporary relief and were retreating.

Then what started as distant buzz suddenly became a loud roar of an engine. Planes started sweeping down towards the Bonple tanks bombs were dropped on the charging tanks and machine-gun fire from the planes cut down any retreating infantry.

The Bonple girls who hadn't retreated were cowering in their little shell holes some of them shaking side by side begging for their moms and dads. Others staring emptily, sitting next to a dead friend or comrade.

Around 38 tanks exited out of the smoke where the planes had just bombed them, determined to either drive off the enemy from the field of battle or die trying.

A group of Bonple planes came flying down towards the Ooarai planes and a dogfight ensued. Two Ooarai pilots were shot down and they're planes fell in a burning wreck crashing into the town.

Another volley of shots hit into the Bonple tanks who were now disorganized. Another 20 tanks stopped dead in their track smoke spewing from the turret or engulfed in flames.

They fired back taking out a measly 5 tanks in which most of the crew survived. The last volley from Miho's tanks resulted in the rest of them being knocked out of action.

The Bonple girls started exiting out of they're hiding spot waving a Bonple flag with only the white of it remaining. Around 379 girls were taken prisoner and gathered in the central plaza of the town in which the Ooarai flag flew high.

Miho rode down the street past a church and towards where the Anzio volunteers had started cooking they're 5-star meals for the team. Around 1/4 of the girls were on defensive duty.

She could still see the smoke rising from today's battlefield. Lost in thought she remembered how it looked, they had only lost 23 tanks, less than 15% of they're tanks. The field on their side looked quite tame with only 10 of the tanks in burning wrecks and the others spewing smoke, there was a little more than 600 girls who had died in the assault including the tankers. On the other side, almost 1000 Bonple girls died and 1800 were wounded and captured.

There was a burning wreck of 100 tanks leading out of the city.

Shaking her head and getting a particularly gruesome image of one of the Bonple girls burning alive in her tank. She thought of what she was going to be eating some pasta, bread and meat. Basically a spaghetti with fewer spices and flavoring.

Leaning back in her commander seat she had an odd feeling of being watched and turned around just as a gunshot rang out. A flare of pain erupted around her shoulder as she saw the muzzle flash coming from the church.

Pulling her pistol out of its holster she brought it towards the enemy and shot twice in his direction. She could barely hear the girls telling her to get down.

She turned and yelled to the infantry around her "sniper!!"

Just as another shot rang out and one of the Ooarai girls cried out in pain.

"Hana crank that turret around" she ordered her vision starting to swim a little bit.

Shaking herself she fired some more shots before ducking in to tell Hana something just in time for a bullet to wiz past the top of her head.

The turret turned towards the church and Yukari loaded an HE shell into the gun and Hana took aim and fired.

The tower of the church was hit by the shell and the tower started falling and crashed into the ground.

The infantry surged forward towards the building while two medics dragged the injured girl back to heal her.

Miho felt her shoulder and felt some blood, thankfully it seemed to be nothing more than a scratch, and not too deep of one. Classic Nishizumi instincts seemed to have kicked in. Adrenaline raced through her body as she re positioned herself, she couldn't show fear of being sniped or the others would fear being sniped.

She looked past the turret and told a Mako who had ducked into the tank at the first shot " Mako drive us to the plaza"

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Eastern Bonple  
on the border of Pravda  
6th February - 10th February

Bonple reserves had mostly been moved to the west to help with the defence of Little Warszawa leaving they're east border completely empty of any troops.

The silence of the forest was broken by multiple engines getting closer and closer, Passing through a small Bonple village multiple BT-7, BT-5 and T-26 tanks rolled past at a speed of 40 Km/h the infantry arriving a few hours later marching through the town. Pravda's forces in their green uniform moved in.

Some small skirmishes took place in Little Lemberg in which Count forces engaged some Pravda troops who believed that they were attacking a Bonple army. This was a complete disaster for the Union of Pravda, specifically the Kebab troops who made up a majority of the army.

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North Bonple  
Near Little Danzig (Beginning of The Siege of Danzig)  
7th February

Erika was in charge of leading the Kuromorimine forces of the Northern Army Group, the army itself was split into two forces, one being in Little Prussia and one being north of Maho's Center Army. The plan was simple enough, she would strike along the coast with most of her forces and capturing Little Danzig before sweeping down and joining Maho in the final drive towards Little Warszawa.

Of course, nothing could go according to plan, during the first day of the invasion of Little Poland she had barely pushed more than 10 Km in the west and 25 Km in the east. The assault on the second day resulted in heavy tank casualties as 7Tp and 9Tp Polish tanks counter-attacked. Some delaying tactics had resulted in it taking 3 days to complete the pocket around Danzig and to completely cut it off from the rest of Bonple.

Now here she was it was 6 in the morning and she was preparing her tank, she hadn't led the assault the first time as she was busy coordinating the army. Now she would be at the tip of the spear in her Panzer III F. The artillery had been periodically bombarding the entire defensive line for two days.

She heard a distant buzzing and as she looked above her she saw waves of bombers heading for the small village that the Bonple forces were defending, a little bit behind them she saw Dive bombers beginning they're bombing runs on the defensive line and the fighters had already started fighting the Bonple fighters.

For the next hour as Erika prepared her forces for the breakthrough attack on the Bonple forces you could hear the bombs going off, and streaks of dark smoke following planes down. The village which only an hour ago still had most of the buildings intact was now nothing more than a pile of rubble not that it would stop the Bonple forces from fighting tooth and nail for the land.

Getting into the commander's hatch she ordered all the tanks, troops, to get into position, the tanks were set up in mini V formations with a column of infantry behind them.

"Panzer Vor" She ordered as the time on her watch turned to eight.

The tanks started moving forward the infantry just behind them. Getting inside the tank Erika immediately started looking for where the enemy could be, the field they had to travel was full of shell holes and around 60 destroyed tanks from the first day of battle. The field was covered with the rotting corpses of the girls who had died earlier.

After they crossed the 2km long field they would then have to cross a small river around 30 meters wide. Once those obstacles were crossed they needed to capture the remains of the town and finally drive the enemy from their trenches.

She waited with bated breath for the Bonple forces to open upon them and she continued waiting as 5 minutes had passed by since they had started the assault and they were almost halfway through the field.

Perhaps the bombing and artillery fire had destroyed all forces. Just as she finished her train of thought an AT gun fired and hit her tank, shards of metal sprayed inside the tank resulting in a few scratches. Artillery fire started falling all around them as the constant sound of ping alerted Erika that the machine-guns had started opening up.

Turning to her gunner she said "Shoot at those AT guns"

Grabbing her Mic she ordered, "all tanks full speed ahead, infantry lay low and return fire."

Lots of Jawohl were heard and the tanks lurched forwards firing their guns on the move, Erika ordered for an artillery strike as she directed the girls forward.

Everything continued in a blur and soon they were already at the river starting the treacherous crossing, a tank to her left was shot and stopped moving. Nobody came out. The infantry had continued moving up in a more methodical manner as Erika had the tanks stop just before the crest of the river and return fire against the enemy.

The Bonple forces would most likely send their tanks in next she thought to herself, turning to the radio operator she ordered for an airstrike. The Battlefield fell into a confusing mess as artillery fell all over the place followed by planes fighting each other and burning wrecks crashing into the fields and into the Bonple trenches.

Erika saw that half an hour had passed and she received a message that the infantry had captured the village. Kuromorimine's flag was now flying high above it and she ordered her tanks to follow the small gap that the infantry had opened up. Within another 45 minutes, most of the Bonple forces were in a retreat and she chased after them with great gusto.

The tanks ran forwards not allowing the Bonple forces a moment of rest in till they encountered the Bonple tanks around 100 tanks strong. The battle bogged down at a small river as both tank forces fought each other. The tanks exchanged fire and tried to counter the other's moves.

A few more hours passed were the battle died down a bit before Erika regrouped her girls and charged forwards once more, this time using Kuromorimine's classic tactic of Panzekiel and the tanks moved forwards at once each tank shooting one after the other resulting in continuous fire raining on the Bonple forces.

Breaking through this line of defence she kept chasing the enemy but was slowed down by effective delaying actions and suicidal defences. Slowing her enough that by the time she reached the Little Vistula river her forces were exhausted. It had taken 8 long gruesome hours of fighting for them to take 30 Km of land. They're had been around 2,400 Kuromorimine forces that were killed or wounded with 162 tanks destroyed or knocked out. Bonple forces had lost around 2,200 Infantry and 88 tanks with 600 that were captured.

————————————————————————  
Siege of Little Warszawa  
February 10th

Maho sat in her command tent, this was the third day in the Siege of Little Warszawa, most of Little Poland had been captured by either the Axis or Union of Pravda. The two major concentrations of Bonple forces could be found in the Little Danzig pocket with what Intelligence reported was around 300,000 thousand Bonple soldiers while in Little Warszawa they're was around 100,000 thousand soldiers.

Maho was currently resting her head on her hands, the desk in front of her contained messages from all kinds of Commanders from different fronts and such. The map on the desk contained the progress that they had made so far, and on the corner of the table was a small glass of alcohol.

Maho's eyes were baggy and tired, her clothes just slightly disheveled, she looked up at the messenger sitting across from her.

"Do you mind repeating what the deal that we made with the Union of Pravda?" Maho asked

"Yes as you see here with the papers that we have signed we have made a Non-aggression pact with the Union of Pravda in return for east Bonple and we promised to not interfere in an invasion of Ooarai in return they declared war against the Commonwealth. Most Kuromorimine officials are seeing this as a good thing for they're declaration in that meeting"

"Why would we want to allow one of our allies to be attacked?" Maho asked with a deathly calm tone

"Not much we can do now in till we take out our enemies to the west, all we can do is hope that Ooarai can hold." Maho continued frustration at this development in her voice. She could almost hear Darjeeling's voice saying the quote "if you want a thing done, do it yourself".

She looked at the messenger and said " please deliver this to Miho, let her know that I have to relocate some of my forces to go help out Erika, including myself. I believe she can capture an encircled city"

————————————————————————  
Siege of Little Warszawa  
February 11th

Miho watched overhead as waves of planes uncontested flew into Little Warszawa, the bombers had been dropping hundreds of bombs for 4 days now and the dive bombers had been targeting markets, wells and hospitals. It had pained her to send that order but it would quicken the siege and would save the lives of her people.

Today they were gonna start the assault on the city from every direction. In the North a coalition of Anzio and Ooarai forces led by Carppacio while in the East Erwin would command the assault with only Ooarai forces in support. In south Anzu was tasked with assaulting the south of the city and in the west, Miho was commanding a coalition of Ooarai and Kuromorimine forces, of which the Kuromorimine forces were being stubborn and hardheaded in any capacity available to them.

The goal of today was to simply get into the city itself and start what was to surely be gruelling urban warfare.

The attacks would start at noon which was in around an hour, till then Miho continued to busy herself with getting her Panzer IV D ready and making sure Kuromorimine forces would actually join in this assault.

————————————————————————  
Erwin

Erwin ordered her tanks forward as the artillery fell on the enemy forces, she had devised a rather simple tactic of using the tanks to cover the infantry once the artillery stopped falling. She already had the trust of her soldier's thanks to how she lead them in the battle for Little Lodz. that had resulted in around 50,000 thousand Bonple soldiers surrounded and surrendering within 48 hours.

She was inside a Panzer IV D and Oryou was driving the tank forward, while Saemonza struck true in every shot she fired hitting an MG emplacement or an AT gun. The Bonple forces were certainly brave concluded Erwin, they without any hesitation stuck themselves out and fired back at the advancing Ooarai forces ignoring the artillery falling around them.

Within 20 minutes they had broken through exactly as Hippo team had predicted, the other teams should just about be starting they're attacks. The Bonple soldiers did a tactical retreat as the tanks had rolled up to within 100 meters and the infantry was within 120 meters.

Erwin's tank drove into the town, infantry on both sides of the tank. She stayed inside the tank as she looked around, Miho may have some supernatural power of dodging bullets but Erwin didn't want to test hers.

" All Panzers advance carefully with your infantry, do not abandon each other." She ordered her division that she was commanding.

As she finished her order she suddenly saw a flash in front of her and the sound of the tank being hit, the tank shook as it suddenly came to a halt.

"Saemonza kill that AT gun" Erwin practically yelled

"Already on it commander"

The machine-gun from the hull of the tank blazed to life as Oryou used it to shoot at the soldiers in front of them, the infantry took cover and started returning fire. The tank shook as the shell slammed into the building chunks of bricks flying away. The street quieted down once more as Erwin murmured Bloody guerillas.

————————————————————————  
Anzu

Anzu was currently in a Pz 38 t and had been in combat for almost 2 hours before her forces finally broke through the city defenses, it was tiring and gruesome fighting. Street to street, house to house, block to block. That's how attacking a city felt like, especially with defenders prepared to fight with guerrilla tactics.

She was tasked with capturing up to the University of Little Warszawa, which meant included a lot of the suburbs. She was currently driving down the main road, two Panzer IV D was behind her following her with almost 100 infantry also following them. They had just captured this crossroad and readied themselves to take the next crossroad.

Turning down the main road she saw two 7TP at the end of the road their barrels pointed towards her.

"DRIVE FORWARD" was the only thing she ordered as she took aim and fired one shot.

The shot flew true and hit the turret of one of the tanks and created a rather shocking explosion shattering any windows nearby. The other tank fired one shot and nicked one of the tracks causing the tank to spin to the left.

Anzu desperately cranked the hand crank to get the turret on target, watching the optics she counted the seconds. The optics had just gotten into view of the tank when she saw the tank already aiming at them.

"Brace for Impact !!" she yelled

A shot was heard and after a few more seconds Anzu opened her eyes and saw the flaming wreck of the tank, peeking out of the hatch she saw one of the panzer IV that had just saved their life.

The girl popped out of the tank and asked " You okay Commander Anzu"

"Yeah thanks for the save"

"no problem Commander"

Slipping back into her seat she breathed a sigh of relief.

————————————————————————  
Miho

The night was starting to fall as Miho was receiving reports of the fighting. It seemed the fighting had been the hardest for her and Anzu, Made sense as the north part of the city was less valuable than the south where the majority of administrative buildings were.

Still, the progress made was slow and although the objectives were reached, she was hoping to have gained more than just a foothold into the city. As frustrating as it was she understood the need for a slower and more methodical push compared to her usually mobility and surprise based tactics.

There was still some periodic fighting happening in the city, some gunshots here and there but for the most part the fighting had died down again and would most likely pick back up once the sunrises.

————————————————————————  
Miho  
February 13th

Over the past day, a slow push had been made, they had reached as far as Little Warszawa proper but fighting from the defenders had become stiffer by the hour. They're had even been reports of some Bonple soldiers charging once they ran out of ammo. There were also others who would surrender and they had around 25 thousand prisoners now.

She had heard that Anzu's tank had been destroyed the day before and so she had decided to grab a gun and continue commanding from the front, honestly, that girl was definitely crazy. The bonple soldiers had been practically been pushed from the north-east all the way across the Little Vistula River. Except for some small pockets of resistance in the north, it was under the control of the Ooarai forces.

Today she would be assaulting the fort in the middle of the town, with its capture the administrative buildings would fall the next day. Then she could consider the city captured.

Amaryllis was to lead the 12th "Reaper" Division, her personal division made up of her elites. They would lead the assault alongside her tanks, sadly the artillery was unable to fire onto the fort reliable enough to be of any effect and the planes were grounded thanks to the intense fog and rain of the day.

————————————————————————

Getting inside her tank Miho sat outside of the hatch like always, even if Saori and Yukari insisted that she stay inside. The assault needed to cross 8 blocks and a park before they would even reach the fort.

The tank started its drive forward down the road, Amy's troops expertly went building to the building instead of staying on the street. A few minutes later they crossed their troops who were sheltered in buildings and aimed where Miho presumed the enemy troops would be stationed.

Within moments shots could be heard and a loud ping noise alerted her to some type of handheld anti-tank weapon that was being used.

"all tanks fire your Machine guns into the windows allow our infantry to get close and clear the buildings"

Within moments, machine-gun fire started to spray our of the tanks suppressing any person dumb enough to peek. All the while Miho was still sitting with her head outside the tank, a shell left her panzer IV and slammed into one of the buildings creating a huge hole in it.

————————————————————————  
3 hours later

Miho had just reached the open field before the fort, Commanding the tanks and the infantry together with Amy, this final push to capture the fort and split the remaining Bonple forces in two.

The fighting didn't stop though as Miho and Amy focused on organizing one final push, the Panzer IV was almost being used as a horse as it traveled down the line rallying men and organizing the tanks. Just as Amy and Miho had begun they assault a wave of planes started diving on the fort.

Out from the gates of the fort polish tanks charged out in one last desperate attempt to delay the inevitable. They shot on the move as they made they're way across the large open space, Miho scrambled on her radio ordering all tanks to open fire on the enemy tanks.

Shells flew past Miho's tank as Hana destroyed a 7TP, the shells slammed into the buildings behind her forcing the infantry to flee. Meanwhile, columns of smoke started appearing on both sides. The polish tanks were getting closer and closer as more and more of they're 100 leftover tanks were taken out.

Miho heard "Agh the hatch is forced close" She heard a short scream before it was brutally cut and a small explosion nearby could be heard. She cringed at that sound before trying to ignore it and focus on the more pressing matters.

She saw a polish 7TP on they're right she yelled "Hana tank 50 degrees right"

The turret turned and aimed at the tank, a shell flew from the main cannon and slammed into its side, the engine burst on fire as the tank pivoted and slammed into a tree. Two girls jumped out of the tank they're hands raised in the air.

As soon as the assault was stopped she ordered "Panzer Vor"

A short war cry was heard as they started moving up, the Kuromorimine reserved forces joined them in the charge. The infantry went from tank wreck to tank wreck, using trees when the gap was too big.

The tanks were shot at by Bonple anti-tank positions, taking out a few tanks for every 50 meters gained. The infantry followed suit having to deal with the constant fire from the enemies. Soon they were within 10 meters from the brown-red walls, the tanks burst through the gate and entered.

Miho pulled out her pistol and popped out of that tanks hatch using her pistol to kill any bonple soldier trying to get close while communicating key positions to Hana and Saori who used both the machine guns to terrifying effectiveness.

Soon Amy's troops filtered into the courtyard behind the tank and started fighting for the hallways and soon Ooarai's Flag flew High above the fort replacing the Bonple flag. With this victory today Miho could practically guarantee that the siege would be over in a few days.

Looking over the battlefield Miho saw the tanks littering the park, broken down or destroyed. Smoke columns raised into the sky followed by buildings on fire. The walls contained dead Bonple and dead Ooarai troops as they had fought in closed range. Miho's pistol was empty now from firing so much.

The field was littered with dead and dying, as the sun slowly started setting one last wave of bombers made they’re way into the city. Miho sat inside her tank and gave a small prayer to thank any force out they’re for protecting her and her crew.

Slowly disembarking from the tank she made her way to shelter, she noticed the mud stuck to the tracks as well as a brownish uniform that seemed to have been ripped off.... somebody.

Thank you for reading this chapter I hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you think of how this chapter dealt with the action and the non-action. Was their too much of one or the other please let me know. I also wanted to apologize for being a day late, as a small apology I extended this chapter by two thousand words and I’ll try to get two one-shots out this week. (The chapters from now on may stay around this word length as soo much happens during 2 weeks that it's hard to cover in detail.) Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, have a nice day.

Signed Irish  
29/08/2020


	7. Chapter 6: Fall of Little Poland.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The noise around the Bonple girls tighten as little Poland slowly falls to Kuromorimine.

(There is now a word ledger at the bottom of the chapter, if a word you don't understand has a * next to it then its explained in the word ledger)

Siege of Little Warszawa

Random Bonple Soldier in the west pocket

February 15th

A girl named Regina huddled behind the wall next to the window. They had been fighting for a week now, the Ooarai and Kuromorini forces had pushed as far as the fort which had fallen two days ago. They had tried to take it back the previous day but all the dead bodies and what was left of the tanks going towards the Fort showed how unsuccessful it was.

Here she was a rifle in hand only three bullets left and starving. They had run out of food last night, she and her squad of 12 had been tasked with defending the capital building which contained all documents and conversations of importance. They had to hold for at least a few hours to give time to some engineers to destroy the documents permanently.

They only had one *Anti-tank rifle with 4 bullets in it. The squad was split into two groups, the top floor and the bottom. The bottom floor would hold the front and only door into the building as well as the stairs, the top floor in which she would command was stationed at the windows.

There was about an hour left before they would be able to retreat, she heard sporadic gunfire spreading through the city. All of a sudden the now-familiar rumble of Ooarai tanks could be heard getting closer.

The familiar banshee screech of the *Stuka planes could be heard as they started diving into the city, explosions could be heard throughout the sections of the city-owned by the Bonple forces. Regina was hugging the wall next to her window, that sound haunted her ever since she had heard it during the battle of Radom.

The building shook as small rocks fell from the roof, and just as terrifyingly quick as it came it abruptly ended, everything was silent. Peeking outside the window she saw almost all the buildings from the blocks ahead destroyed, a few gunshots could be heard from them.

She waited at the window as she tried to stop the shaking of her hands and calm her heart down. The small rumbling of tank engines continued as she waited. A minute passed by, then another and soon she found herself having been in the same spot for around 15 minutes when suddenly a tank climbed up the rubble in the street heading towards their building.

She saw the familiar and legendary Miho a the top of the tank, she knew the rumours circling the army. Some say she was invincible like Achilles, other said she was so lucky that the Irish would be jealous, the most popular one was that she could predict when the bullets would come to her and she would dodge them. At the end of the day, its scared the living daylights out of her to see her leading the attack on her building.

She had managed to escape Radom by pure luck but she didn't think she was gonna get out of this one alive. The tank slid down the rubble into the relatively clear courtyard of the building, except for the occasional marble statue and wall.

She grabbed her rifle and aimed it at the infantry clambering up the rubble behind the tank, she shot and saw one of the soldiers tumble down and remain unmoved at the bottom of the rubble.

Pulling the bolt on her rifle she saw one of the shots from the anti-tank rifle bounce off Miho's tank. Suddenly Miho's tank started turning its turret in the direction of the shot, she hoped that Ania was smart enough to get out of the room.

She aimed once more as the Ooarai troops charged across the field, another shot rang out and a scream could be heard by the girl that fell to the ground. A machine-gun from the bottom team opened up and shot down the front door, injuring and killing a dozen girls as the other sought cover.

Exiting out of the room she was in she made to relocate to another room when a loud explosion shook the building. A girl fell out of the doorway stumbling down the hallway, it was Ania who was clutching her arm which had a hole through it at the elbow.

Grabbing her, she carried her to the main office area where the engineers were. She laid Aina down on one of the tables and tied a poorly made tourniquet around her arm. She then proceeded to search her pockets for ammo finding three rifle bullets. Rushing out of the room she entered another one to see one of her recent friends Wera peek out the window with her rifle only to get cut down by 6 bullets.

The green tracers and horrifying buzzsaw sound had clued her in as to what gun it was, the horrible *MG34. She slides right below the window and whispers an apology as she turns the girl over grabbing the girls' *bayonet (she had somehow not lost it yet) and the remaining bullet in her gun.

Rushing out of the room she proceeded to run up and down the hall ordering the girls to retreat into the hallway. Four girls answered the call as a frazzled Regina ordered them to start making some makeshift barricades in the hall, it would be their final stand.

They had managed to scrape together a few desks together and dressers right before the main hall, the engineers were starting to destroy as many documents that they had gathered, specifically the most top-secret documents.

Over to the stairs, she saw three girls of what was left of the Bottom squad holding the corner of the staircase.

"Alicja, Ula and Eunika fall back to the main office that's where we're going to make our stand for the engineers"

They nodded and followed Regina as she rushed up and back to the barricades, setting herself up against the wall she saw the four girls set themselves behind the barricade blocking the hallway. She heard footsteps following them when Eunika stopped.

"Go on I'll buy you a bit of time"

Regina got to the barricades and jumped over followed by Ula and Alicja, they heard a gunshot and Eunika yell a war cry before it was cut off. Setting herself against the wall on the left she saw Ula set herself up on the right side and Alicja was beside her.

Regina knew that each girl probably had around 4 bullets each at the maximum, opening the bolt of her rifle she shoved the four extra bullets she had scavenged and slammed the bolt shut. She rested her rifle and aimed down.

"Make your shots count" She yelled in polish just as the first soldier exited out the staircase.

The girls shot and pulled their bolt back as quickly as possible ejecting one shell and slamming another one in. The Ooarai girls fell as they tried to get out of the staircase, they were firing back but most of the bullets missed as they tried to get into any of the nearby rooms.

One of the girls was suddenly shot as she fell to the ground a bullet through the shoulder, she struggled to get back up and continued to shoot at the Ooarai forces.

As strong of a defensive position as it was they started running out of ammo, Regina was already on her last shot and she was sure that everybody else was running out of ammo. Already two of the girls on the barricade were dead and their ammo had been passed around.

She shot her last bullet before she pulled back hiding behind the wall she yelled in polish "I'm out of ammo"

She heard a chorus of "me too" from the other girls as the two at the barricade moved to behind the wall.

They all looked at each other fear in their eyes, one of the girls even asked if they should surrender. Regina countered it by pulling out her bayonet and attaching it to the end of her barrel, three other girls did the same and the others flipped their rifle around planning on using it as clubs.

"No, we charge and we either repulse the enemy or die trying"

A quick look back showed the engineers having finished burning the documents and tearing them apart, they recognized that this was as many documents as they would be able to destroy and grabbed their knives, they joined the girls behind the walls.

They heard the footsteps coming down the hall and a voice follow " Surrender and we promise to treat you fairly"

Regina's answer was the Bonple war cry "Honour the Homeland! For Bonple!" this was echoed by all the other girls.

She turned the corner followed by the other girls as she jumped over the barricade and ran towards the shocked girls at the front holding their rifles. The girls shot and it whizzed by her hitting a few people in the back cries of pain were heard.

Soon she was on them, her bayonet drew blood as the first girl was impaled. Pulling the bayonet out of the girl she looked up only to see a girl holding a submachine gun, the *Hellriegel, had a stick magazine holding twenty bullets.

In a flash, she felt pain explode from her right shoulder as she fell to the ground. She looked to her shoulder and found a bullet wound there right before her vision blackened and she passed out.

The hallway was filled with rapid shots as bullets flew into the charging Bonple soldiers. By the time the girl needed to reload her weapon, there were only two girls still standing, both dropped their weapons and raised their hands in a flash. The Ooarai girls stepped over their dead and the dead Bonple soldiers as they took the girls into custody. All wounded girls were also captured and brought outside.

—

Siege of Warszawa

Anzu in the east section of the city

February 16th

Anzu watched as the Bonple soldiers marched by her, they had surrendered in mass earlier this morning. For as far as the eye could see Bonple soldier after soldier marching in single file lines down the roads. There were still some pockets of girls who refused to surrender but they were quickly taken out.

Leaning backwards Anzu sat in her commander seat and pulled out one of her rations, dry potatoes. She took a bite and savoured the relative peace and quiet as she observed the girls passing by and the damage that had been dealt with the once beautiful city had been reduced to rubble and destruction, the once clear streets with joyful civilians were now rendered into nothing more than streets of destruction and death with some roads containing broken tanks some still smouldering from the day before.

Some wounded soldiers passed her by some even being carried on a stretcher, she had to give credit to these soldiers they fought to the last bullet. She sighed as her muscles relaxed and she looked into the sky, the only noise that could be heard is the engine of tanks and the occasional gunfight.

—

North Poland 16km/10miles from Danzig

Erika

February 17th, 10 pm

Erika had waited for night to fall, she had studied the enemy's positions for a few days since she received confirmation from Maho that she would be moving forces to come to reinforce her. Casualties had been mounting ever higher from the daily skirmishes between both sides and the occasional attack.

Erika had gathered her personal division the Black Angels, it contained her devoted soldiers and was a mix of amour and sturmtrooper infantry(breakthrough focus). They had a black uniform on with a pitch-black angel insignia and had discarded their helmets for this mission. Each leader in the division had a flare, and most of the soldiers were equipped with the standard *Kar98k bolt-action rifle with a few equipped with the deadly MG34 machinegun and the *MP39 submachine gun.

She was currently sitting in one of the trenches that had been built during the week, she rehearsed the plan she had come up with, it was one that she was sure Maho would be proud of. At around 10 pm when all that was left was darkness and the majority of the enemy would have gone to sleep the infantry camouflaged for night combat would sneak up to the enemy defences line and start to quietly take out key positions previously scouted.

Their objectives would be to take out the machine-gun positions and the enemy anti-tank positions, then when that was done they would shoot their flare into the sky which would signal to the tanks and infantry to start the attack. If this all works out they should be able to push up to Little Danzig with very little problem.

Erika slowly climbed out of the trench taking care not to make too much noise, she would be leading the infiltration operation, her trusty pistol at her hip and a Kar98k with a bayonet on her back. she started crawling forward followed by up to 1,200 other girls.

It took around an hour for them to reach the enemy trenches. Erika jumped into the enemy trench and slung her rifle around so that it was off her back and pointing towards the enemy. She started moving down the trench as more and more girls dropped into the trench, some of them even continuing further on to go eliminate the *MG and *AT positions.

She shifted herself to be crouching as she made her way down followed by three other girls one of which was holding an MP39. She reached a turn in the trench and came to a dead stop as she heard Bonple voices speaking polish. Slowly peaking around the corner she saw 2 soldiers looking over the trench.

She signalled backwards for someone to follow her around the corner, readying her rifle she turned the corner with another girl. They slowly stepped inched closer in till they were a foot away from the two girls, Erika mouthed "one two three go" before lunging forward and stabbing in the center of the girl's chest killing her almost instantly. A small gasp was all you heard from both girls.

They continued moving down in till they reached one of the built-in dorms of the Bonple soldiers, they had neutralized two MG positions in the cover of darkness and had made their way to this dorm. She sent the MP39 girl in with a partner to take the Bonple soldiers, prisoners. Grabbing her flare gun Erika pointed it into the sky taking a quick look at her watch as it ticked towards 1:37 AM.

One of the girls had just reached her to let her know that all the Bonple girls were tied up when Erika squeezed the trigger sending a blinding white flare into the night sky. A few seconds went by and more than a hundred flares started filling up the night sky as suddenly shouting could be heard from both sides and the rumble of tank engines starting up.

Erika heard some rustling from nearby as she mentally counted down the time, it would take the girls 15-30 minutes to cross the field and reinforce them, which meant they needed to hold for that long. Some footsteps coming down from the trench line warned her of some enemies making their way over, getting into some small dugouts they aimed down the trench line just in time to see two enemies soldier turn the corner.

*Bang* *Bang*

Two soldiers fell and Erika pulled her bolt back and slammed it into place just as another Bonple soldier turned the corner and shot wildly missing. Another girl shot and the bonple soldier fell, she knew that they were most likely going to be forced back at some point, she also knew that with that submachine gunner guarding the prisoners that they would have no chance of escaping not to mention the complication of having around 30 prisoners suddenly freed and ready to come to shoot them.

"I'll be right back" She turned around and bolted past the two girls who continued to fire at the enemy and went down the stairs to the dorm room.

She saw the girls shivering in fear at the back of the room with the submachine gunner watching over them, she hesitated for a second was she ready to order the execution of 30 unarmed people. She knew that it was immoral but the consequences of not doing so could be more drastic.

"Annie, Shoot the prisoners. I want you to come upstairs and help us out afterwards" Erika spun around and made her way up the stairs pausing for just a second as she heard the rapid firing of the gun.

Reaching back up the stairs she turned with her gun at the ready seeing the bonple soldiers moving from dugout to dugout. Firing her rifle she continued cycling the bolt and firing.

—

The bodies had piled on top of each other as the time passed by, they had been forced to retreat 2 times already and had met up with another team. They were now holding the Bonple forces as they watched their ammunition slowly disappear.

Pushing her last clip of ammo down her rifle and pushing the bolt forward she turned the corner and fired at one of the soldiers peeking hitting her in the shoulder. They already had two of the now 6 girls injured one who she had handed her pistol and was shooting at the enemy with it and the other one was critically injured.

They heard a war cry come from the end of the trench and the bonple soldiers charged towards them, their must of been more than thirty of them as the girls desperately fired their guns when all of a sudden a squad of Kuromorimine girls arrived at the side of the trench and pointed their guns downwards at the Bonple girls.

A few shots were fired before all the Bonple girls dropped their guns and raised their hands into the sky. A Panzer III F rolled passed the girls and a familiar girl popped out of the hatch. One of Erika's good friends and the Division's vice commander Emma who had led the assault with the tanks.

"Glad to see you alive Erika, the Bonple forces have been routed and are retreating towards Little Danzig"

"Glad to be alive Emma, Follow up and chase after them I want to be outside of Little Danzig come sunrise."

"Of course Kommandent, your tank with its crew should be here any moment now"

Seeing her Panzer IV D tank come up to her she got out of her trench and climbed into the commander's seat. Setting the rifle up next to her in the tank, grabbing the radio she ordered.

"All forces, charge forward and drive the enemy into their precious city. Panzer Vor!"

The tanks lurched forward in the dark of the night as they chased after the Bonple army, they were using ambush tactics to try and slow Kuromorimine down.

Erika's tank sped down the hill as they charged an artillery position, up to 60 guns were firing and causing trouble to their flanks on their right and left as they tried to widen their *spearhead offensive. She had her machinegun blared to life as it cut down a squad of girls defending the artillery.

Her tank rolled over some barbed wire and over a trench before reaching some of the artillery pieces, her tank rolled over one of them as the Bonple soldiers started running once more. They had continued in pursuit as more and more infantry and tanks filtered through the growing bulge in the Bonple lines.

By the time the sun had started rising Erika and her division was around 6km away from the outskirts of Little Danzig, the sun had just risen into the sky and the Bonple resistance had grown tougher as their advanced slowed down as their rearguard continued fighting a fighting retreat.

Erika had received on the radio that the forces in the west had just captured Little Gydnia another one of the vital ports for Bonple, and Maho had just reached them in the south and had started her offensive onto the Bonple forces. Not to mention the reports she had received telling her that the Bonple forces had started withdrawing to the outskirts of Little Danzig on all fronts.

She was temporarily distracted by the sudden shower of lead hitting her platoon of tanks and the infantry behind them. The tanks fired back at them when 5 *Anti-tank guns fired when they got within 100m of the trenches and 5 tanks were knocked out with smoke pouring out of the hatches as the girls jumped out, one of the tanks even had fire spewing out of the engine and slowly spreading to the other tanks.

Stopping the tanks aimed and fired into the AT positions smashing the guns to pieces as the Bonple girls started retreating once more. The cover of the bushes and tree's helping them to escape.

After a short rest, they continued on their push forward this time with another division of infantry who had made they're way to them. By midday after multiple skirmishes with the Bonple forces where they retreated once they were about to be overrun, again and again, they had reached the outskirts of the city, they could see the port and the buildings as well as the fort on the north-east part of the town.

Erika decided to call for a halt to the offensives, this would require more firepower and a slow cautious approach to attacking this town instead of the fast and hard-hitting approach she had adopted recently not to mention the exhaustion that she could see setting into the girls around her.

—

In the Baltic sea (130km/80miles north of Little Danzig)

Admiral Hood

February 19th near noon

The soft rolling of the waves hit the *battlecruiser rocking it from side to side, a young girl sat in the commanding deck her long honey blonde hair reached up to her lower back as she wore a peaked cap, she was wearing a long dark blue overcoat with a white shirt underneath it and dark blue pants.

She observed the Royal commonwealth fleet as it moved along the Baltic sea, they had been escorting convoys of transports from Little Britain to Little Poland, specifically from Little London to Little Danzig trying to evacuate as many soldiers as possible. They had gone back and forth four times now and were on their fifth journey back to Little London.

The sea was calm and they're had been no ship in sight, their had only been a few scratched to the paint from some coastal artillery. Their airforce had even decided to stay away from them for now.

There were around 50 troop-transports in the middle of the formation, they were set up with where the ships were 5 wide and 10 deep. Next were the 8 battleships 3 on each side with one in the front and one in the back. after that was the 6 battlecruisers 2 on each side and 1 in front and back. After that was multiple destroyers and cruisers surrounding the fleet and acting as scouts.

Suddenly an explosion hit one of the transports followed by a few more explosions on some of the transports. The explosions came from under the water and threw water up to around 80 feet high you could hear the sirens ringing as the ships slowly tilted as they slowly sank and the soldiers on the boat desperately lowered the lifeboats.

Hood racked her mind on what could have possibly been able to hit the transports when she came up with two possibilities, either they were in a very sparse minefield or they're were some submarines nearby harassing them. Coming up with the conclusion that it was most likely submarines she ordered the destroyers to start searching for submarines.

She watched as one of the transports broke and the other 3 hit slowly sank, it seemed like they would be able to save around half of the girls.

—

Little Rome

Anchovy

February 21

Anchovy looked over her map, they had all of Anzio's and Blue's forces in position, she had pepperoni in Italy as the overall general of the African theatre, Carpaccio and her forces had arrived a day ago with a hero's welcome as they had a full march through Little Rome and today she had sent them to the Confederation's front.

She currently sat in her small office, her window looked out towards Little Rome and the Ocean off to the side. It was a beautiful and relaxing view but she was currently feeling the opposite. She had been playing the Anzio political games since she first arrived in Anzio as a first-year. She had maneuvered herself in till the public had proclaimed her as the Duce of Anzio to bring it back to glory.

She knew she had enemies though hiding in the darkness, in the shadow's waiting for her to mess up before pouncing on her like starving wolfs. Specifically the president and the so-called queen of Anzio. They were already trying to set her up to fall, just yesterday they were criticizing her for sending Carpaccio over to Bonple and for not entering the war against The Confederation.

Of course, she hadn't simply laid back and let them accuse her and maneuver themselves into a better position without any repercussions. She had made two speeches in the past month, declaring the rise of Anzio and Blue into prominence once more as well as declaring The Confederation a weak enemy. She had also moved to create a secret police force as well as a loyal special forces unit.

The Secret police forces were called the PVA, Patriotic Volunteers of Anzio, they wore black uniforms and were tasked with protecting Anchovy above all else, Anzio came after that. They were tasked with Counter-Intelligence, guarding the Duce, and removing political problems.

Meanwhile, the special forces know as Arditi would be tasked with attacking enemy fortifications, they were made up of mostly infantry but had a few *CV33 to use as they see fit. Currently, they would stay in Little Rome while training to be able to come to her aid if things get a bit tense in Little Rome.

Her and Miho had created their intelligence system now, connecting their nation's in a way that made betrayal self-destructive. Called the Imperial Center of Intelligence (ICI), They were still training the girls. So far the organization seemed to be doing well.

Anzio's Navy was the best of all the Axis in Little Europe but they didn't have any good admiral's meanwhile she had been given biplanes for her airforce although they did have a few talented girls in the air.

A small sigh left her mouth as she continued thinking of plans to be able to win this upcoming war

—

Little Danzig outskirts West

Maho

February 22

Maho looked at the small fields separating the village of Little Gdynia and Little Danzig. She could see the town itself with smoke rising out of it as artillery and bombs that had fallen on it had removed most of the beauty from the city.

She had organized it with Erika to start a three-point offensive. The objectives were fairly simple, the center group led by Koume was tasked with capturing the city center on the small island in the middle of the city and a key position for the Bonple forces, the west commanded by herself was tasked with taking key infrastructure lines including a hospital, railroad stations and the main Highways connecting the north and south part of the city, they would then assist in the capture of the port and city centre. The east commanded by Erika was tasked with taking the port of Little Danzig to stop the commonwealth's ability to pull troops out of Little Danzig.

Getting into her tank Maho got comfortable as the girls around her started getting ready for the assault on Danzig, the goal for today was simply to reach the city. She knew her girls were tired from the non-stop break from Little Warszawa to the south of Little Danzig where they fought in a battle to break the Bonples defensive line. Then being relocated to the west and launching an offensive after only one day of rest had left the troops exhausted.

She wouldn't want to push her troops too hard. The distant booms and whistling of the shell before an explosion could be seen in the city. The weather had become rather cloudy as the rain started falling among the explosions and rocking of the earth.

The artillery barraged finished and Maho activated her mic " All Forces, Panzer Vor "

A sudden war cry could be heard from the troops as they began their push towards the city, the tanks led the way just barely as the infantry was running full speed behind the tanks. Maho's tank fired their gun as the bonple troops fired machine-guns and anti-tank guns at the charging Kuromorimine forces.

Maho closed the hatch and used the commander's vision ports to see what was going on. She saw tanks all around her being taken out by anti-tank guns. More and more infantry started getting cut down from the machine guns, focusing her tanks on the anti-tank guns she started firing her cannon and machine gun.

"Gun thirty degrees left. Fire!"

The gun kicked back as the shell landed right next to the gun showering one of the girls with tons of shrapnel while the other one went flying through the sky and landed hard.

After an hour of constant fighting, the Kuromorimine troops had just captured the first line of trenches as the Bonple girls started slowly retreating to the second line fo defences. She shot her machine-guns and cannon just as enemy artillery started dropping on her position.

The first volley showered the trenches and threw some Kuromorimine girls or at least what was left of them all over the place, one shell landed next to her tank and threw it into the air slightly.

The attack then proceeded to the next trench line that contained the outskirts of the suburbs. Her tank started moving forwards when a wave of polish tanks from the side came rushing towards them followed by some infantry.

"full halt, enemies on the left"

The turret of the *Panzer III F turned towards the enemies as its gun rested on a *7TP Bonple tank, the gun kicked back and Maho watched the tank go up in blazes. The gun was quickly reloaded as Maho called out another target and it fired once more ripping through the tank.

A wave of shots hit the Panzer forces taking out a few tanks, suddenly some air support arrived as the Shrieking of the Stuka's diving onto the enemy tanks could be heard. Explosions peppered the Bonple tanks as they made it into the enemy's forces. Their tanks started circling the Panzers as the battle become a confusing mess of an assault, with Bonple tanks and infantry fighting Kuromorimine tanks and infantry.

The results were that by nightfall Maho's forces had barely just been held out of the city itself, they were around a hundred feet away from the first building of Little Danzig. The desperate and almost suicidal defence of the Bonple soldiers had caused a significant amount of damage to Maho's forces for an excruciating amount of lives lost on for the Bonple forces.

Maho sat in her tank looking out of the hatch's visors and saw the sunset in the distance as well as the bodies that had ended up pilling in front of the tank and a few on top of the tank as they tried to enter her tank. A lot of her forces tanks had been damaged although only a handful had been destroyed, the infantry had also received a lot of damage with over a quarter of the girls being wounded and ten percent being killed.

The battlefield was filled with smoke and craters as well as plenty of tank carcasses from both sides, the bodies had pilled on top of each other and the second trench line had changed hands at least 10 times throughout the day resulting in the top of the sides of the trench holding hundreds of bodies being used as makeshift sandbags and the inside of the trench was stained red with a pile of bodies on the floor.

—

East Little Danzig

Erika

February 23 a few hours before Dawn

Erika's *Panzer IV D rolled past the first building of Little Danzig, being the official first Kuromorimine unit to have entered the city. They had taken a short rest lasting a few hours after they had taken the eastern fields and roads leading to the city. Now with another surprise attack, she led her army into the depths of the city.

There was a river going through the city, more specifically it was the Little Vistula river and it ran down the middle of the city and then turned to the right about three quarters through it and continued that way for a while more. This meant that her assault on the city would be conducted with the river splitting her forces in two. Therefore she had decided to give command of the northern part of her forces to a girl called Entra, a volunteer who had rapidly risen through the ranks.

Erika wondered for a second where the Bonple forces could have gone too as she passed the second street, the river to her right when suddenly a brutal explosion shook the earth and one of the buildings exploded from an artillery shell and the building collapsed in front of her.

Not being able to afford any type of setbacks she knew that capturing that port was the key to cutting off the lifelines of the city. She told her driver to continue forward as the tank slowly climbed up the hill of rubble followed by 10 tanks behind her and plenty of infantry. Once they crested the hill suddenly a wave of lead cut down the infantry next to her tank, the shots came from buildings to their sides and the front as artillery shells fell all around them and an anti-tank gunshot from one of the convenience stores with the big windows at the front.

The fighting was brutal and treacherous as it took 3 hours to simply push 800 meters to reach the bridge. Her tank had plenty of blast marks on it from near misses with AT guns and there were only 5 tanks left with a handful of infantry left. It made Erika weirdly happy that she had insisted on having her division rest a bit more before being committed to the assault. She would certainly need them to cross this bridge.

She ordered her forces to reinforce their flank on the right and create some defensive positions, she stayed in her tank as the artillery didn't let up, and told the remaining forces to hold in till relief arrived.

—

Little USA, a rally in Little Washington

Alisa

February 24th

After a bit of convincing Alisa had finally convinced the president that it was in her interest to do a small parade in Little Washington to boost morale and reassure the Saunders citizen. She was in the crowd and watched as on the stage the school president stood and was giving her patriotic speech.

Talking about how keeping neutral was the only step forward and how they could not fall victim to the fake plea's from St-Gloriana reminding the student that only 50 years ago they were trying to buy out Saunders and turn it into a puppet school of St-Gloriana, turning them into a colony.

Just as she was getting to the part where she was about to start praising Kuromorimine Alisa checked her watch and saw the time turn to twelve a clock. As planned a shot rang out and hit the President spinning her around as she fell a few feets away face down on the floor.

The crowd erupted into chaos as people ran in different directions as military police flooded the street and started bringing order back as a detachment went after were the shots were found. Alisa simply followed the crowd as she knew that by the time the MP arrived at the site of the shooting that the assassin would be long gone, worst case the assassin was ordered to take a cyanide pill and to incriminate Kuromorimine as the nation responsible.

—

Little Danzig, first bridge crossing the Little Vistula river

Erika

February 25

Erika watched with her binoculars across the river, they're had been multiple assaults the day before which had resulted in the 200-meter bridge being littered with dead girls and burnt out husks of their tanks.

They had been so close to a breakthrough each time but an artillery barrage would always ruin their dreams and force them to fall back. Thankfully she had word from the airforce that they had levelled the area with the artillery during the night.

Erika watched as the first wave started the assault, 4 *Panzer 38t lead the front followed by 6 *Panzer II and a few Panzer IIIF and Panzer IVD followed by infantry and covered by *mortar fire. Suddenly she saw the enemy open fire, lead rained down on the forces crossing the water.

Running and jumping into her tank she told her crew to get the tank moving, it lurched forward as she gathered the 2nd wave of assault from her Black Angel's division and lead it towards the enemy bridge.

A shot from her Panzer neutralized one of the Machine-gun positions and her arrival on the bridge seemed to have encouraged the girls to restart the push that had slightly stalled thanks to those MG and AT positions.

The girls continued to move down the bridge, Erika's tank was leading from the front as it pushed a destroyed Panzer II out of the way, ordering her forces around she committed a third wave to the assault. Her tank had just barely crossed the river when she saw a Polish 7TP Tank hiding in one of the ruins, its turret barely visible as it fired and hit her tank dead on.

She heard screaming inside her tank as her driver was decapitated from a shell to the torso, her Machine-gunner had her right arm full of shrapnel and her gunner was knocked unconscious. Opening the hatch above her she grabbed her gunner and hauled her out of the tank and placed her behind the turret, the loader got out through her side door and rolled off the tank onto the ground, the machine- gunner tried to exit out of her hatch only to be peppered with bullets and was left hanging half inside the tank her legs barely above the ground as the other half was hanging off the tank blood leaking from her mouth.

Erika quickly sat at the gunner's seat and set her sights on the 7TP and shot. The shot hit directly with the turret and a stream of fire shot from the commanders hatch before an explosion was heard and the turret flew of the tank.

Grabbing her rifle on the side of the tank she exited from the commander's hatch and crouched behind the turret, throwing the rifle over the side of the tank she dragged her gunner onto the ground and placed her behind her tank.

Slugging the rifle to her side she dragged her gunner with the help of the loader to the nearest group of infantry were some medics immediately started treating her. Grabbing her rifle she loaded a clip into it and slammed the bolt shut.

"Let's keep moving forward girls, their's no going back now"

Grabbing some of the girls that had been hiding behind cover she dragged them up onto their feet with her and led the push down the bridge shooting at enemies as they appeared. Soon a Panzer 38t drove passed them and officially crossed the bridge setting itself up to defend the crossing infantry.

Soon a parameter was formed were the tanks acted as mobile cover as the infantry now led by Erika took up positions behind them and started their slow push into the city, where Erika decided to remain behind to coordinate the attacks better. The Black Angels had once again been able to break through the enemies' fortified lines within a few hours.

The Bonple Girls were forced to retreat deeper into the city, where they set up another defensive line now supported with troops that had been fighting Entra who had successfully driven deep into the enemy lines the previous day.

A pocket of around 3000 Bonple Girls was formed as Erika's forces met up with Entra's forces. The problem that Erika realized is that the further they push into the city the less and less the Bonple girls need to defend as the Vistula River protected their right flank and the ocean protected their left. This meant that more and more Bonple girls started to be concentrated in one area which meant it was harder to break through not to mention that the bonple girls had set themselves on the other side of a highway which created an open killing box where the Bonple girls can hide in a building and shoot at anybody crossing, not to mention that she was sure that some more armour was going to be deployed soon against her forces.

In other news, Maho seemed to have completed her objectives, what else could Erika expect from such a brilliant commander as Maho, she was going to help Koume's forces who were struggling a bit more against the Bonple forces.

—

Little Danzig Port

Random Bonple Girls

February 26

A Bonple girl stood in line as she walked down the docks, there were potholes all over the concrete bridge leading to the boats as constant bombardment was an hourly occurrence. She had been told to leave her gun and ammo for the soldiers behind so that they could equip some of the girls who no longer had working guns or who had run out of ammo.

Stepping down the line suddenly the sound of planes could be heard and all the girls ducked the heads and crouched as the bombers came down upon them dropping bombs that hit the water causing a huge wave to reach into the sky and then come crashing back down.

Bullets hit the pavement and suddenly the docks shook, a look behind her informed her that one of the bombs had struck the docks. She continued moving down towards the docks her knees were shaking and she clutched her uniform tightly as minutes passed by slowly.

Before she knew it she was boarding the boat, a sense of relief could be felt as her muscles relaxed and she stopped clutching her jacket. She was guided below deck and grabbed some food that was on display. Soon the boat would make its way out of port, one of the boats on the docks ended up taking a hit from some tanks set up on the shore further on and some artillery.

It made it out of their badly beaten but still floating, soon the last boat had left Little Danzig, no other boat would be sent back as the Bonple forces were barely holding their positions as it was, they would not hold long enough for a second trip.

Off the coast, Crusiers and Battleships provided some emergency support for the Bonple girls as shells landed on the Kuromorimine forces forcing any offensives that day to a halt.

—

Baltic Sea

Admiral Hood

February 27

Hood had been having a rather quiet day when suddenly a radio report came in from one of the destroyers.

It read "Enemy ships spotted, a size of 40 ships coming to engage us, with at least 4 battleships"

Hood was suddenly glad that she had petitioned for the HMS Darjeeling to follow the fleet on this outing. A *Carrier carrying plenty of naval bombers would be crucial in this upcoming battle.

Quickly ordering the fleet to enter combat mode and formation she kept the Troop transports the clear target of this engagement away from the battle. The fleet set itself up in a more classic line battle formation with the battleships and battlecruisers at the heart of it with the cruisers and destroyers screening for them. Meanwhile, the HMS Darjeeling immediately started sending naval bombers into the sky.

The first ship to fire was Hood's personal ship and the pride of the navy, the HMS Hood. It's turrets turned towards the enemies and fired the first volley which crashed into one of the battleships of Kuromorimine.

The battle dissolved into each ship firing salvos at each other with the planes of St-Gloriana diving on the enemy and torpedoing the enemies. The first ship to be sunk was a St-Gloriana destroyer before one of the Kuromorimine cruisers was sunk. Although outnumbered the Kuromorimine forces fought on, soon they lost a battleship in return for one of St-Gloriana battleships.

The Hood fired another salvo at the Kuromorimine commanding ship when suddenly the front half of the ship erupted on fire, soon the fire spread to the middle and a loud explosion in the front ripped it from the rest of the ship.

The Ship tilted forward and started sinking, halfway through the sinking it cracked and broke into two separate pieces that started sinking rapidly. The Battle ended with that as the Kuromorimine ships began retreating.

Although a rather small battle with only 5 ships lost for St-Gloriana (1 Destroyer, 1 Battleship and 3 Cruisers) and 7 ships lost for Kuromorimine (2 Battleships 2 Cruisers and 3 Destroyers). This was the first official naval engagement of the war resulting in a minor victory for St-Gloriana.

—

Little Danzig Near the Port

Commander Jadwiga

February 28

The Commander Jadwiga had been fighting since yesterday, with the fall of the bridge she knew it was only a matter of time before the port would fall but she would hold with her girls to the last girl. They had all decided that it was either death or victory and victory was becoming more and more impossible.

Popping out of the window she fired her rifle at an exposed soldier. They had retreated 5 times now towards the port, they were now merely 500 meters away from the port. Grabbing a fallen girl's grenade she pitched it at an advancing group of enemies before yelling for another retreat.

In a well-practiced formation, they started their tactical retreat, when Jadwiga looked at her right she saw the next division beside them being overrun by tanks. Realizing that she was now cut off from commander Jajka she was momentarily shocked before she quickly recovered and ordered her fastest girl to deliver a message to the other division to retreat to Fort Little Westerplatte.

They continued falling back, fighting building to building not allowing the enemy any inch of land for free. Soon they found themselves back to the river they only had around 5 buildings of depth protecting them from being slaughtered on the river banks. She had a meeting with the other leader, her legs were burning and she was exhausted as she looked at the equally tired commander.

"I was going to suggest we retreat to the Fort, its still in bonple hands according to that flag."

"Won't we be slaughter while crossing though, that's a two hundred meter swim."

"Half my division will hold on this side... we will buy you the proper time needed."

The other girl nodded gravely at the soldiers including this commander that would be making the ultimate sacrifice. Saluting the other girl she said " For Bonple and the Homeland"

"For Bonple and Homeland"

Here she found herself rifle in hand, no anti-tank measures and desperately holding the line. Training her rifle she shot an enemy while yelling words of encouragement to the girls that had volunteered with her to stay behind.

The minutes ticked by and soon a tank made its first appearance, a panzer II shooting at her window destroying the window in the process as well as the window frame. Moving to another spot she continued shooting, cycling her rifle as quickly as possible, soon she started running out of ammo and out of soldiers to command. It was a miracle that she was still alive.

Crouched she rested her rifle on the outside of a hole created by a tank as she tracked one of the Kuromorimine *Krauts, she slowly squeezed the trigger.

She muttered, "take this you bi-"

Ping

Jadwiga fell over dead a bullet through her skull, loaded rifle next through her as a puddle of blood slowly grew around her.

—

Little Danzig, city center

Jajka

February 28

Jajka ordered her men to retreat to the two bridges leading to the city center, they would hold for as long as possible as she ordered every soldier to fight to the death. Maho would have to pry Little Danzig from every Bonples soldier's dead clutching fingers.

—

Little USA, Little Washington

Kay

February 28

"I Kay new president of the United Saunders Alliance and new president of Saunders do swear to protect, preserve and defend this nation to the best of my abilities"

The crowd outside of her inauguration cheered as she stood there in her military uniform. Supported by the army, navy, airforce and the intelligence system it was a given that she was going to be elected, not to mention the amount of popularity with the average saunders student.

Waving at the crowd Kay continued with her speech " I promise to take a hardline neutral stance on the war happening in Little Europe as well as keeping our previous deals with nations. This does not mean I will not decide to help out nations that are friendly with Saunders but I will not send girls to fight in a war that is not ours."

More cheering erupted as Kay left the stage and headed towards the Little Whitehouse. Alisa who had been discreetly watching the stage and speeches nodded satisfactorily and turned around to get back to her office.

Word Ledger

-Anti-tank Rifle: a rifle made specifically to shoot at tanks, they chambered 20mm bullets and were popular in ww2 up in til 1942.

-Stuka: a german dive bomber plane, known for its effectiveness and terrifying shrieking it made that would scare soldiers.

-MG34: a famous german machinegun nicknamed the buzzsaw and considered one of if not the top machinegun in ww2.

-Bayonet: A knife made to be attached to the end of a rifle, usually longer than the average knife and made to stab with.

-Hellriegel: a prototype Austrian-Hungarian gun made during ww2, very similar in design to a Thompson.

-Mg Position: Machinegun position

-AT position: Anti-tank gun position

-Kar98k: german bolt action rifle during ww2

-MP39: an early version of the famous MP40, a submachine gun with around 35 bullets.

-Spearhead Offensive: a thin concentrated push that aims to drive a wedge in the enemy's lines.

-Anti-tank gun: a cannon specifically made to destroy tanks, although early versions had to be close to the enemies they evolved into a tanks worst nightmare.

-Battlecruiser: a mix between a battleship and a cruiser, keeping strong firepower and speed for a cost of armour.

-CV33: an Italian tankette (small tank equipped with MG), it was a fast light scout tank that contained 2 crew members. Note that there are upgraded versions with an anti-tank rifle installed instead of an MG.

-Panzer IIIF: Early Germanies main tank with a 37mm cannon and reliable armour and speed. It was used up in till 1942 when the Panzer IV overtook its job.

-7TP: A polish tank considered the polish equivalent of the Panzer III with a slightly slower speed. It also had good armour and a 37mm gun.

-Panzer IV D: A german tank with a small howitzer gun, slightly faster and better armoured than the Panzer III but mainly used against Infantry.

-Panzer 38t: a Czech tank turned into a german tank, with good speed light armour and a 37mm gun.

-Panzer II: a german light tank equipped with a 20mm auto-cannon, considered outdated by the time ww2 started.

-Mortar: a small mobile artillery piece, a tube with a stand where you drop small shells into.

-Carrier: a ship specifically made to have planes take off and land on it.

-Krauts: A term used to describe germans in ww2. In this context, it's a word to describe Kuromorimine soldiers in a derogatory manner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter. Please leave feedback on how the Naval battle sounded as I'm not super knowledgable on naval history and tactics. I would also appreciate some feedback on how the chapter as a whole feels. I would like to mention that I am officially taking in OC from the audience, all I need is a name, school their from and a brief description of their personality. These chapters will also be posted on Sundays from now on. Thank you for reading this again and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Also thank you to Kurumi on amino for allowing me to use her OC Entra. I would also like to announce that I have a side along story called GSW compilations, its a group of oneshots.
> 
> Signed Irish?
> 
> 13/09/2020


	8. Chapter 7: Remember Little Danzig

Little Danzig, south Bridgehead  
Koume  
March 1st

Koume ducked into her tank, the fighting hadn't let up for over a week since they had started pushing into the city. The constant bombardment on her forces had rendered all the buildings and streets into a tanks nightmare. While Maho and Erika still had intact streets and buildings to fight over. Compared to her it was practically a field of rubble and bumps, the rubble practically negated all the effectiveness of her tank as mobility was cut down.

Her tank jolted to the side, she hadn't been a commander for more than two months with one of them being her baptism through fire as Maho had described it not to mention that most of the girls in her command were recruits.

She was following another tank that was in front of her it, it was a Panzer 38t that had insisted on being in the front as it climbed up the rubble of a fallen building in an alley, distant shots could be heard when a bright white streak of light slammed into the Panzer 38t from the front immobilizing it and sending it sliding down the rubble. Some of the girls that had been on the back of the tank riding it were shot as the others dived off the tank into the rubble.

Her tank which was a Panzer III rolled up behind it some more Panzer 38t following her, the infantry on her tank disembarked and set themselves up on the hill of the rubble and started firing back. The infantry that had been pushing alongside the tanks set themselves up in some ruins and started firing back.

Koume had to say that her troops had massively improved, from the fragile inexperienced unit they had started as into an actual effective fighting force that was able to hold its own. Her tank levelled upon the top of the rubble and the MG34 on its hull opened fire and began to pepper the windows of the destroyed building in front of them.

A tank was hidden in some of the rubble fired at her bouncing off the front and Koume's gunner zeroed in on him with Koume's help. The gun fired and hit the tank dead on, they reloaded once more and fired again and saw some smoke start exiting the tank.

All the tanks were on top or at the foot of the rubble now, the infantry slightly behind them scattered in the debris of the building and the ruins of the buildings themselves.

"All tanks move forwards infantry follow us"

The tanks slowly moved forward as the infantry started darting from debris to debris. The gun of the tank shot once more as the shell slammed into the building causing parts of it to collapse. Continuing to move forward as the Bonple soldiers were slowly being pushed back, her machinegun's blaring at any enemy girls within her sight.

This was repeated throughout the day across both frontlines, Koume arrived at the small bridgehead defended by some Bonple tanks. They had finally been pushed to their final defence, a small island with an area of around 2km. She set her tank up in some rubble along with the other tanks, the night would soon be upon them but hopefully, she would be able to take out their defences positions in that last hour.

Her tank's cannon fit through the window of a small building, the standard factory grey paint camouflaging her in the rubble of the city. Her gunner locked onto an enemy tank which had rubble positioned in a way as to cover everything but the turret.

"Is everyone in position" Koume calmly asked

"Infantry is in position, *mortars are zeroed in and machineguns have been set up." one of her infantry commanders answered

"Tanks are in position just waiting for the order to fire" One of the girls commanding a tank division answered

"All tanks and infantry fire"

The tank kicked back as it fired, dozens of shells slammed into cover and tanks hiding throughout the area, the infantry started firing at the enemy trench line, Koume saw smoke start rising out of the surprised enemy tanks.

Shots were fired back, one of the tanks that must have been overlooked had shot and ripped the concrete wall Koume's Panzer III had hidden behind causing the wall itself to come crumbling down in front of them and creating a dust cloud in front of them. Koume could hear the whistling in the distance as Bonple Artillery started dropping on them, meanwhile the smaller mobile mortar pieces did the same.

"All forces forward, Force them back across that bridge"

A chorus of yes could be heard as the tanks and infantry started moving forward, cover to cover. Koume's tank crashed through the rubble and the dust cloud exiting out into the street. Her tank continued moving forward only stopping when it needed to fire.

Crashing through another building she saw the infantry follow in behind her tank, fighting the shocked soldiers around her. Suddenly the sound of metal being shredded could be heard and next the Radio Operator/ Machinegunner in Koume's tank screamed out in pain as her legs were ripped off her.

Spinning the turret around they found the Bonple girl on the ground a large anti-tank rifle set up as she fired once more, hitting slightly higher and this time killing the girl as her torso now had a gaping hole from the right to the left.

The Machine-gun fired and filled the girl up with holes, The infantry moved pass them as Koume's tank remained unmoving for a while longer as all the girls stared at their friend which had died a gruesome death.

"Kommandent, all objectives have been completed we will start setting up some defensive measures," one of her sub-commanders told her

"Kommandant?"

"Kommandant!!"

"S-s-sorr-ry, were a b-it shaken up, set up some positions for tomorrow and get ready to assault across the bridge" Koume's words were all choked up as she stared at the dead body in her tank, when suddenly almost as one all the girls poked their heads outside the tank and threw up on the outside.

"get us back to HQ Otake," she told her driver as the girls silently made their way back to the new temporary HQ.

————————————————————————  
Little Danzig, West Bridge defence  
Anna, Commander of the "Iron Divison" 12 Bonple Division  
March 2

Rifle in hand, eye looking down the sights, finger on the trigger, her rifle was perched on a small little foxhole that had been dug out by her division. Then sounds of war surrounded her, what use to scare her be it gunfire, tank engines and the sirens of a Stuka had become comforting to her and her girls.

Her sight's landed on a soldier running towards a smoking tank.

*bang*

The soldier fell as Anna quickly cycled her bolt and looked for another enemy. She and her girls had been fighting since the war had started. One month of non-stop fighting, they had become famous within the Bonple army. They were the division that had stopped Erika in the east during the first week. They had stopped Erika once more on the river once she broke through before being sent back to R&R, stopping Erika once more just outside Little Danzig, they had been relocated and had halted the southern thrust for a few days before once more being relocated and stopping Maho's forces. Now here they were at the bridge holding off Maho's forces once more, so far they had yet been able to fully halt her attacks always having to withdraw as they were overwhelmed.

Another shot rang out as she killed another soldier, there were 5 smoking tanks stuck on the bridge, destroyed and the first attack had failed. They had set up their anti-tank gun's in positions that had quickly reduced their armoured thrust into a simple infantry attack.

They had become so good at holding these enemies off that they had been nicknamed as the "Iron Division" for holding like an iron wall. Their patches on their arms had been changed for a wall with the top part white and the bottom part red. Another shot rang out and a barrage of artillery started hitting the bridge and the areas around it, hitting the water and throwing it up onto the bridge.

They had been told that they would be only able to fire today as they wouldn't have the ammo to fire any longer. Even then they wouldn't have anything close to a proper artillery barrage as they conserved ammo.

Her ears picked up the sudden rumbling through the gunshots, recognizing it as some more tanks being committed to the battle. She saw the destroyed Panzer 38t get pushed out of the way as a Panzer IV D took its place, they had to be on its side or within 100 meters of it to penetrate it.

She continued to fire as she yelled out "Where is my radio operator!!!!"

Crouching into the foxhole she reloaded her gun, slipping a *clip into the breach of the rifle when a girl rolled into the foxhole behind both girls. She had a radio on her back as she got up and stayed below the dirt line. Slamming the bolt of her rifle she switched it to the left hand.

Grabbing the phone on the side of the radio she yelled into it "This is Anna commander of Iron Division requesting artillery on the west bridge"

"We hear you, Anna, artillery coming in *ETA 5"

Grabbing the dial she switched to her division's radio "All forces begin withdrawal to secondary positions in 5 minutes"

Switching the dial back to HQ she spoke "This is Anna Commander of Iron Division requesting a broken arrow on my position ETA 10"

"Understood, *broken arrow ETA 15."

Clipping the phone onto the radio operators back she cussed, of course, they would push the broken arrow back, they probably had another *fire mission lined up for the southern bridge.

Popping over the trench she aimed and fired once more as the tanks rolled forward. The anti-tank guns all shot at once at the Panzer IV as most shells bounced off but one shell seemingly pierced its armour and set it ablaze. The next tank another Panzer IV shot its *howitzer at the grouping of anti-tank guns killing a few of the girls and forcing the others to relocate.

They continued firing at the tank as it moved forward when artillery shells could be heard whistling in before it crashed into the area in front of the bridge. Getting out of her trench Anna followed by the two other girls ran back towards a building before starting to shoot at some soldiers that ran through the bombardment.

They continued a fighting retreat in till they reached their secondary positions and set themselves up. Anna was once more in a trench as the artillery fell where they had been, a little late as the Kuromorimine tanks and infantry had already passed that location.

She fired another shot into the charging enemy troops when suddenly a loud voice started blaring from a pole with loudspeakers, she realized that Jajka was giving a speech amid battle, she hadn't done this yet always reserving speeches to personal speeches in front of the troops travelling from division to division to reinforce moral.

"Soldiers of Bonple, I call upon you for the greatest favour a general can ask of you. I ask of you to fight on, to fight the dastardly cowardly enemy to the last. I ask you to fight in the streets, in the buildings in our sewers and our tunnels. I ask you to defend the last holding of Danzig like a cornered animal.

The enemy shall try their best to convince you to give up on the dream of a free Bonple but I tell you that Bonple lives within each one of us. I Jajka ask all my soldiers to fight to the last man no matter the cost, they shall have to pry Little Danzig from our dead fingers and all of our allies, old and future shall remember the brave stand at Little Danzig. Our soldiers who were evacuated will charge across all of Little Europe crying out remember Little Danzig and our Heroic stand here today."

As the speech finished Anne saw a 7TP tank rush out of the streets followed by 15 other tanks. The first shot that was fired hit one of the enemy tanks, destroying it. This was followed by a continuous non-stop fire from the anti-tank guns.

Grabbing the radio Anne saw the opportunity to for once go on the offensive, with armoured support and morale at an all-time high she said "All forces attack the enemy, Force them back across the bridge with their tails between their legs"

After saying this she grabbed her rifle and hopped out of the foxhole crying out "For Bonple, For Little Danzig!"

The war cry was echoed by all her soldiers as they jumped out of their cover and started charging forward. The surprised Kuromorimine troops started to retreat almost immediately and by the time they decided to defend most of the girls were already entering their buildings.

With her bayonet at the end of her barrel, she aimed down the hall and shot one of the soldiers before rushing forward and piercing the next soldier through the chest. The other girls followed her.

She saw one of her girls fall next to her due to a gunshot, bringing her gun upon them she squeezed the trigger and watched as the body hit the wall and slid down. Continuing forward she saw that they were 1 building from the bridge. Spotting an enemy tank she rushed over to one of the Kuromorimine girl's dead body and grabbed their two grenades.

Rushing to the tank she ignited the grenades and threw them into the turret ring of the tank. The subsequent explosion wedged the turret of the tank. Continuing past the tank she headed to the foxhole she had started this entire day inside when a Kuromorimine soldier popped out throwing herself to the side she heard the shot whizz past her as one of the girls that were following her stopped and shot the girl.

Once she had reached the foxhole and jumped into it ignoring the dead girl in the foxhole, she saw the enemy troops running or driving in the case of their tanks across the bridge. The first successful assault had just been done by her men. A quick look back and she saw that it hadn't come without a cost but they would certainly be able to hold Danzig for one more day.

————————————————————————  
Little Benelux, Near the german border  
Erich, fighter pilot  
March 3

Erich was in her fighter plane around 3000 meters above the ground, she was in formation with two other planes, she was wearing her grey uniform and her aviator hat pushing her brown hair to the back keeping it out of her face.

Before she had joined up in the newly created Kuromorimine *Luftwaffe club she had been a simple student bored with school and going through the motions of life. She had gotten swept up with the excitement and had joined the Luftwaffe. Now here she was feeling free and enjoying every day as she flew her plane up into the sky, she had already scored one kill, the first one from her *JG 52 squadron.

The liberation of being so high in the air, of controlling a plane that responds to your every movement. It was exhilarating and made her glad that she had decided to join up.

She was following the patrol route that she was ordered to take when she saw a group of five planes below her. Turning towards the enemy she informed her two Wingman over the radio.

"contact spotted 9 o'clock, get ready for a fight"

Her plane the famous *Bf109 E flew closer and closer to the enemy in till they must have been around 800 meters away from the enemy and she suddenly turned the nose of her plane downwards toward the enemy planes. She could count all five of them right now and she smirked as she watched her plane pick up more and more speed.

Closer and closer they got to the enemy in which she placed the sights for the guns in front of the enemy plane. She squeezed the button on top of the joystick and smiled in satisfaction as a stream of bullets hit the first plane along the *fuselage as the engine caught on fire and the plane started spiralling down towards the ground.

Pulling the joystick back her plane lifted up and made a half loop, she could see that one of the other planes had been shot down and the other one was being chased. Her analysis was suddenly interrupted as she heard over the radio.

"One of them's on my tail, I can't shake him off."

Spotting the plane in question she saw that one of her wingmen was being chased by an enemy plane, bringing the throttle into overdrive she sped towards them as both planes jerked around in a deadly game of cat and mouse.

"drop-down Morikawa"

Without hesitation, her wingman turned her plane and dropped downwards in a dive. The enemy plane made to follow her and flew straight towards where her guns were pointed, a burst of gunfire and she saw smoke start spewing from the plane as it headed turned away from the two planes and headed away in a fast dive trying to getaway.

She noticed the other plane falling through the sky with a small girl in a parachute floating downwards.

"Let head back to base"

They turned their base towards home and flew off.

————————————————————————  
Little Britain  
Assam  
March 5

Assam watched as tanks and soldiers boarded the troop transports, she had been tasked with a small expedition force and to be sent over to The Confederation to reinforce their lines. She had been given around 250,000 soldiers and 7,000 tanks as well as the GI6 teams.

The GI6 teams of which she was the leader of was an intelligence-gathering department that specialized in foreign Intel. Meanwhile, the 5 infantry divisions and 3 tank divisions that had been granted to her were a mix of *green and elite troops.

Grabbing her suitcase she made her way to the jeep parked outside her house that she had been granted. She entered it and was driven towards the docks to board one of the troop transports.

————————————————————————  
Little Danzig, north island  
Erika  
March 7th

Erika was outside of her hatch as she guided her tank across the makeshift wooden pontoon bridge. She had to make sure that her tank didn't slip into the water as they silently made they're way across the bridge. Once she reached across the bridge she waited for around 500 infantry to cross and a group of 30 tanks.

This operation was a risky one, she had split her army and two and had her engineers work non stop to build two bridges one connecting the north-east and the other connecting the north-west. It created a connection to the north of the island and would speed down and try to capture both bridges.

She drove forward with her tank as fast as possible down the road, this part of Little Danzig was one of the few places not turned into rubble. She the infantry was ridding on the tanks with the others running behind them.

They had reached the main crossroad leading to the bridge where she saw some troops camping out with makeshift tents. Stopping her tank she stared wide-eyed for a few seconds before ordering her girls to start shooting at the sleeping and unsuspecting girls.

The rest of the night and into the morning she would be fighting against the bulk of the reserve troops who desperately held onto every little inch of land, the same had happened in the north with the other part of her army. They had been bogged down 800 meters away from the bridges, failing in their objective but had nailed one extra nail into the coffin of the bonple girls in Little Danzig.

————————————————————————  
Little Danzig  
Anne  
March 9th

Anne had been called to Jajka's office, her division had been in R&R after a day-long fighting retreat from the bridge after Erika's forces had outflanked them. Walking through the hall's her uniform which had started off as a light grey uniform and blue pants had become torn and ripped in all kinds of places and its colour had shifted into a dusty grey with spots of black from ashes.

Her long brown hair which had been tied in a ponytail for the past month had been let down for the first time. Her hair was caked with dust making it look more grey than brown, her face had the same phenomenon with the dust making her look like she was a piece of a building. It had frustrated her at first but the pro's of being the same colour as all the rubble all over the place had won out.

She entered the office and stood at attention in front of Jajka. Jajka herself had bags under her eyes and her hair which had been normally well-combed was all over the place, maps were strewn over the table and there was a pistol on the left side of the desk with papers strewn all over the place.

"Please sit down Captain Anne"

Sitting down in the old wooden chair in front of Jajka she looked at her commander.

"Why did you call me commander?"

"I'm sure you've realized now that there will be no victory in Little Danzig only a heroic and valiant defence"

"yes but I'm ready to fight to the death for it"

Jajka looked at her with some pride " I promoted Maika into being the Marshal of the Bonple forces. It's tradition to only have one marshal but considering the unique situation I'm going to promote you to Marshal as well"

"Why I don't see this battle lasting for much longer as we run dangerously close to being out of ammo and food. I predict that in the next few day's we will all be dead."

"I have a specific mission for you and your division as well as a few other divisions. While I need to stay here so that the enemy doesn't suspect that around half our army sneaks away. I need to die to confirm that all Bonple forces died in Little Poland."

"What will be my duties then."

Jajka got up and searched in her drawers for a few seconds before grabbing two small badges that showed two swords crossing each other. She also grabbed a letter and made her way to next to Anne.

"Your final orders before you become a Marshal is that you will need to hand this letter into Miho herself. It contains critical information that could change the course of this war. I will tell you this information after you become a Marshal. You will be commanding the Iron Division, Winged Hussar tanks and a few other elite divisions, in total you will command around 45,000 girls."

Saluting Anne said " of course Marshal Jajka"

Clipping the two badges to the girl she congratulated " Congratulations Marshal Anne on your new position. The information in that letter is top secret, only Marshals are allowed to see this and Miho is the only one you're allowed to show this too."

"thank you Jajka, I understand the secrecy behind it but what is the message in this letter" She grabbed the letter from Jajka.

"Some spies from some good friends have passed to us that Kuromorimine made a deal to allow Pravda to attack Ooarai without any interference. The only requirement is that only 2 cities be taken. Now tonight you'll take the sewers to the outskirts of the city and make your way south to the Ooarai border. You will need to find Miho at all costs."

"Yes of course. I'll have the girls under my command out of here by darkness. I'm assuming that we can't fit any tanks into the sewers."

"No... we also need to have all tanks destroyed here. It'll only confirm things even more, also take this piece of paper. It'll confirm that you were promoted by me. " she handed a small piece of paper with Jajka's signature.

————————————————————————  
Little Danzig  
Maho  
March 10th

Maho directed her forces from her tank as the last building containing Jajka and the last of the Bonples held onto false hope.

She had her tanks bombarding the outside of the building as they fruitlessly fired back at the infantry, they had destroyed the rest of the tanks and had captured the artillery earlier today.

The bonple flag on top of the building waved in the air, it was riddled with holes and had almost a quarter of the end having been ripped off. Suddenly it went quiet from the building, she ordered the infantry to move even closer to the building having it surrounded. They were around 10 meters from the entrance itself as they stopped and stayed in cover aiming at the windows.

She rolled her tank closer to the building as she yelled out "Jajka surrender right now, there is no point of continuing this fight we know that you are out of food and ammo. Will, you really sacrifice your girls for nothing, you've lost accept that and spare any more blood being spilled."

She stopped for a second when all of a sudden the doors swung open and out came Jajka with her sword raised in the air yelling some battle cry in polish followed by what was left of her army which numbered in the hundreds.

They charged towards the infantry when Maho ordered her gunner to cut them down, the MG34 of her tank fired off sounding like a buzzsaw as the other tanks followed her lead. Hundreds of bullets cut down the girls in rapid succession.

They had barely made it 2 meters outside as they laid on the ground dead and stacked on each other. At the front was Jajka in her famous uniform on the ground the sword still clutched in her hand as she coughed up some blood before laying down.

Her blood stained blond hair had been spread out in a weird halo around her head as she closed her eyes and whispered "For Bonple.... and.... Lit-tle Da-nz-ig" her breathing stilled and her hand holding her sword loosened as the sword rolled out of it.

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Word Ledger

Clip: A small metal strip with 5 bullets attached to it, considered cheap and throwable after use.

ETA: Estimated time of arrival

Broken arrow: used for emergencies to call artillery on your own position as a last-ditch attempt to stop the enemy. (basically, your artillery shoots at you)

Fire mission: An order for the artillery to bombard a specific location.

Howitzer: A large artillery piece (sometimes mounted on tanks) that usually shoot large slow-moving explosive shells.

Luftwaffe: German for Air force

JG 52: the first part is an abbreviation that means Jagdgeschwader (Fighter squadron) and the 52 means that it is the 52nd squadron created.

Bf109: also known as the Me 109 is the most used German fighter during ww2. The variant Bf 109 E does not have any cannons, unlike the future versions.

Fuselage: the central part of a plane.

Green: in the context of talking about a military unit it refers to that unit being inexperienced and not trained into battle effectiveness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter. The invasion of Bonple has come to an end which means that the subsequent chapters will have a little less action as the armies take some time to do some R&R. Let me know what you guys think will happen next or what you want to have happened next. As always let me know if there are any mistakes in the chapter and what parts you like, feedback both in construction criticism and in theories/speculations are always welcomed and are actually encouraged. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter sorry for it being shorter than the last three ones had some college things that distracted me from the book.
> 
> Signed Irish ☘️


	9. Chapter 8: Phoney War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things cool down in the war in Little Europe as both parties react to the fall of bonple and such an early war.

(Warning, from now on explicit War Crimes will be committed. You have been warned)

Little Austria, Little Vienna  
Miho  
March 15

Miho laid on the beach relaxing for the first time in a month and a half, the stress of running a campaign was much harsher then she had predicted. The other girls from the army were either in the capital town or were at the beach with her.

She blocked out the noises of the other girls as her hair formed a small light brown halo around her face. She was still wearing her Ooarai uniform as she kept her eyes closed. Her mind was running amok as she thought of everything that happened this month.

Even with how aggressive and decisive the battle had been the losses on both sides had been kept to a relatively low number compared to Maho and her forces. They had lost around 25,000 soldiers and the Bonples had lost around 40,000 but around 160,000 Bonple soldiers had been captured. It was nothing to scoff at but she did thank whatever higher being there was that she hadn't needed to see more death.

She felt the air shift around her as someone sat next to them, followed by a few others.

"Miho, do you ever feel that this world is slowly changing," Saori asked in a somber and serious voice. Something that a month or two ago she would have said was abnormal but had now become more and more common.

"In what way?" Miho cracked open her eyes to notice the entire Anglerfish team sitting with her.

"I think Saori meant to say that this world is becoming more and more.... real as time goes on" Mako pitched in with the other girls nodding at her words

"I guess it is feeling less and less virtual the longer we stay in here," Miho answered

"I'd say its because we've been living in this world for so long." Miho continued stretching slightly as she sat up.

"It would make sense, after all, we are suppose to live in this world for another 5 years," Hana mentioned

"Make sure you get some relaxation time, I don't think we'll get much of this in the coming years." Miho looked out towards the beach.

She saw hundreds of girls playing and swimming around, they looked so relaxed and happy nobody could have hardly believed that a month ago they were embroiled in war, fighting for their life.... or should she say their virtual life. This thing was messing with her head more than she realized.

Shaking her head she looked out towards the girls once more, how many of them would make it to the end, would any of them make it? Looking towards Saori, Hana, Mako and Yukari she gave them a bit of a tight smile.

"Do you girls know one of the worst things of being commander?" Miho randomly asked

"Having to command so many girls?" asked Saori

"Trying to be victorious?" Yukari wondered

"Lack of sleep?" Mako mentioned

"Being forced to kill?" Hana asked

Shaking her head Miho stood up and looked at one of the groups of girls who were playing together.

"No, it's seeing some girls one day and not seeing them the next... knowing you're the reason why their no longer there." Miho's tone was dripping with sadness

"Ordering some girls to attack a solid defensive line knowing that most of those girls are never going to come back even if deep down you know it's necessary." Miho watched the lake's calm nature.

She felt a pair of arms surround her, then another and before she knew it she was being hugged by all the girls.

"... We're sorry you have to go through this Miporin" Saori whispered with the other girl's acknowledging.

Shaking her head she sighed " what am I doing, this is supposed to be a fun small vacation for us and I'm here brooding, bringing down the mood"

"Everyone needs some brooding Miho" Hana mentioned

"I guess your right, you girls on ahead and play. I need to make a small phone call, I'll join you guys afterwards." Miho mentioned, her light brown eyes shinning a bit more than before.

The other girls made their way towards the beach where a volleyball game was happening. Telling her to join them afterwards, which she promised to do.

A soft sigh escaped her as she made her way to the command tent, even though she had been brooding for most of this trip she already felt the stress leave her and she entered a more relaxed posture.

Perhaps going through things within her own mind was an effective way to rest and not let it build up. Entering the tent she moved over to the radio and grabbed the phone attached to the large radio.

Turning to one of her soldiers she timidly asked "Can you get me Anzio's signal"

A quick nod and a turn of a few knobs resulted in her hearing the Duce's voice " Hey Miho, what can I do for you."

"I just wanted to let you know were going to arrive a day or two later than predicted. I want the army to have a bit more of R&R"

"sure no problem, could you stop by Little Rome, I want to have a meeting with our staff together so we're all on the same page."

"Alright, see you soon Anchovy"

Putting the phone back into place she looked at the girl who was still sitting in the tent "Go have some fun out there with your friends."

Looking at her with wide eyes she spoke " thank you, will do"

Miho smiled as she left the tent and went towards her friends playing volleyball, perhaps she could temporarily forget about everything. Just enjoy the day as if she was still just a high-school student and not the leader of a nation of three schools who's currently at war.

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Little Austria, Little Vienna  
Miho  
March 17

Miho watched as the girls gathered up once more, getting ready to get on the train. Miho's eyes were light and bright, shining in the sun. Her shoulders relaxed as she scanned the crowd.

She watched the tanks being set up on the trains and checked her pocket watch that she had received as a gift from Yukari. They would be boarding the train in an hour, it would mark the end of their little vacation that they had.

Little did Miho know that an hour later when she would board the train and start to head towards the Anzio Empire that she would barely miss a small army of bonple soldiers who had been marching non-stop to catch up with her.

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Little Russia, Near Little Moscow  
Katyusha  
March 19

Katyusha looked at the 50,000 prisoners below her, they had been captured by her forces during the invasion of Bonple.

"I Katyusha has decided to be merciful to you and instead of sending you to the gulags will give you a generous choice of joining the great and powerful Red Army. Perhaps this way you may atone forever fighting against me."

"If you join our army you will be granted the rights of the soldier and will join a great Union that crush all that stands in its path, If you don't join then you'll be sent to the gulag and will help the Union by working for it."

Stepping down from the podium she had Nonna lift her up on her shoulders and march away, the KGB guards sorting out the prisoners who are joining and who are not joining.

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Little Benelux, Near the Kuromorimine-Confederation border  
Erich  
March 19

Erich was in the air once more, she was commanding 12 planes and had been promoted. She was the second leading ace for Kuromorimine and the fourth in the war with her 10 kills. She had marked each kill on the side of her cockpit with a skull.

She was around 4000 feet in the air with her Bf109 E, the feeling of liberation while being in the sky was always refreshing. She was practically always itching to get into the air, it had become as keen to breathing for her.

She was interrupted from her thoughts when one of her squadmates radioed in

"Enemy plane spotted at 10 o'clock. Seems like 8 fighter planes and 8 bombers, what should we do Kommandant?"

She knew who it was, it was a young girl called Ichika a recruit that had arrived at the beginning of the month and was on her first mission.

"Start forming up, we'll dive on them and take out their fighters first. Remember what you were taught and let your instincts take over."

Calming and clearing her mind she watched the enemies getting closer and closer towards her squad. She spotted the planes, they were St-Gloriana's, specifically they were 8 *Hurricane's and 8 *Wellington's.

"Dive now!" Erich yelled

All 12 planes began to dive towards the enemy, each one of them picking a fighter as they closed in towards the enemy.

Having just spotted them the planes began to turn only for bursts of fire to come from each of the planes. Erich waited a bit longer in till she was in what she called prime firing distance and sent out a burst of machineguns.

The green tracers from the ammo flew towards the plane and peppered the front of it. Within seconds the plane had pitch-black smoke and started spinning downwards. Another skull that would need to be added she thought to herself.

Turning her plane around she saw that 4 out of the 8 fighters were already going down. She also noticed that one of her planes was spewing some smoke as it tried to limp back to base.

Pushing the throttle to the end she saw some machinegun fire from the bomber zip past her plane as she went after another one of the Hurricanes going after one of her squadmates. Lining the plane up she pressed the fire button on the joystick and saw the bullet's pepper the cockpit of the enemy plane.

Suddenly a stream of fire peppered her plane as she dived downwards while turning her plane to her left.

"I got one of them on my tail!" She yelled out

"Pull up, I'll get it as it follow's" one of her Wingman called Himara called out

Pulling the joystick back she felt the plane pull up and heard more machinegun fire following after her.

"I got him, he's on fire" Himara called out

Turning her plane around she did a quick check on the damage, she had a few holes in your wing but that was about it. Turning towards the bombers she saw that the last two fighters were too damaged and were limping back to base.

Firing some shots she saw the bomber start to list to one side and drift out in a steady dive. The rest of the bombers were shot down in quick succession and they began to make their way back to base.

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Little Italia, Near Little Venice  
Anne  
March 20

Anne had "borrowed" a local horse and used it to ride in front of the entire army in hopes of catching Miho while she was in Little Venice. Sadly she seemed to have arrived too late.

She was in the forest right now taking a small break, feeding and watering the horse as she took a small rest. She didn't think that horseback riding would be that difficult and would make her bum that sore. Clearly, she had been proven wrong on both accounts.

She had just untied her horse and resettled it when two girls came out of the small dirt path and saw her. She recognized them as Anzio soldiers and quickly put her hands up as they started yelling at her to get down.

Slowly getting herself down she spoke as clearly as possible " I just want to meet with Miho. It's an emergency"

They kept their gun trained on her as one of them forced her forward as they grabbed the horse and made their way towards her. Arm's behind her back she was marched over to the town where she was put in a cell.

The whole time she repeated her message of needing to see Miho. The Anzio soldiers called the Duce to inform her of the situation and to pass the information to Miho.

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Little Italia, Little Venice  
Anne  
March 21

Anne had been subjugated to interrogation after interrogation by what looked to be some intelligence officers. She had slept in the cell her letter still safely tucked away as she had repeated her demands over and over again. She wanted to meet Miho in a meeting to discuss some sensitive information.

She hoped that the army hadn't jumped the gun yet and tried to do anything stupid. All she could do is wait in her dark cell and wait for a response.

————————————————————————  
Miho

Miho waited inside a small meeting room, there were 5 guards in the room, two of them were right behind her and two were at the door with one being where the turncoat, as the intelligence department had briefed, her would be sitting.

She had apparently been adamant about meeting her in person, something about sensitive information that could change everything.

The girl entered the room, she was caked with dirt, dust and seemed to not have had a good shower in what must have been for more than a month. Her khaki coloured uniform had faded and been covered in so much dirt that it looked more like splotches of grey, light brown and dark brown.

She made her way and sat down in front of Miho and introduced herself.

"It's nice to meet you Miho, my name is Anne Takahashi you can call me Anne though"

" I heard you had wanted to talk to me about something important?"

"yes but first I want you to know that I am one of the new Marshals of Bonple after Jajka's death. I was specifically tasked by her to speak to you about the information I am about to reveal."

She dug into one of her breast pockets before pulling out a letter.

"This contains information that some of our spies had discovered during the end of the invasion. I believe this to be crucial and important enough to risk being shot for it."

Miho grabbed the letter and gently opened it before pulling out the letter and reading it.

"You do know that we'll need to double-check this information right?" Miho asked the girl in front of her

"Of course I wouldn't expect anything different from the great Miho. You shouldn't just trust your enemy on a whim."

"You also know that as angry as it would make me find out this information is true there's not much we will be able to do for now."

"What do you mean, you could team up with St-Gloriana and the Confederation and crush Kuromorimine. "

Miho sighed as she rubbed her temple, already running through dozens of plans to properly prepare for war with Pravda. "the fact is that we simply can't turn around and declare war against Kuromorimine because Pravda would then declare war on us. We would be crushed in a two-front war where St-Glorianna and the Confederation would be unable to support.

This is not even mentioning the fact that the Commonwealth would be in a worse position fighting two main powers with the Imperial sun most likely joining in afterwards and even with saunders help it would most likely end with them losing."

".... What am I suppose to do with the girls under my command, I've got about 50,000 girl's relying on me. I can't just wander around and does this mean you would never attack Kuromorimine?" Anne asked a bit of desperation slipping into her voice as she rambled a bit.

"No, I simply mean that at this time attacking Kuromorimine is suicidal and with your girls, you could always join us. I understand if you don't wish too but it would allow us to work together to someday bring both Pravda and Kuromorimine down."

"What do you mean join you? I don't think I could relinquish command of the girls."

"No no no, you would be like another army commander in the army.... something akin to the Bonple Army inside of the Ooarai army."

"We could work something out" Anne agreed, it would give her girls the best chance available and they would retain some level of autonomy.

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Little Italia, Little Venice  
Anne  
March 22

Anne rode her horse in front of her army as the girls followed her, they would be boarding another train heading to Little Vienna as soon as the Bonple army Swore allegiance to both Bonple and Ooarai. Anne for the first time in 2 months had taken a shower and been able to wear clean clothes once more. She had even had the time to properly stitch the correct rank onto her shoulders.

They would be reequipped and retrained with their new equipment, and in the end, they would be assigned to help defend against Pravda. Something Anne was 100% for considering they had also invaded her land and she wanted to get a bit of revenge.

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Little North Sea  
Jannicke  
March 23

Jannicke was an admiral for Viggen High, the Swedish inspired school inside the Kuromorimine Reich. She was one of the minor Admiral's for Viggen, she was in command of 4 destroyers and her flagship a light cruiser.

She had just spotted one of St-Gloriana's ship, a lone battlecruiser that was off the coast of Little Sweden. She had ordered her ship's to get into combat readiness as she had her fleet screen the ship ever so slightly.

The enemy battlecruiser started turning and Jannicke ordered her ships to charge, if her destroyers could get within torpedo range then they would be able to sink the St-Gloriana ship, otherwise, they would be at the bottom of the ocean.

The first salvo from the Battlecruiser was fired as it splashed around the light cruiser, the respiratory shots also missed as the 5 ships continued charging forwards. Another salvo was shot this time against the destroyers, 4 shots were fired on two destroyers.

One of the shots hit the middle of the destroyer sending it up in a blaze with the middle of the destroyer lifting up out of the water before shattering and sinking down to the bottom of the sea within 2 minutes.

The 4 ships left continued to close the gap as their shots proved ineffective against the battlecruiser. Another salvo and another destroyer disappeared beneath the waves, this continued for another 5 minutes in which out of the 5 ships only two remained, a destroyer and the light cruiser.

The destroyer started to turn to the left as torpedoes were dropped in the water before it did the same on the other side. A volley of shots was fired and this time hit the cruiser, two shots landed in the front of the ship and an extra one landed directly where Jannika had been stationed.

The cruiser began sinking from the front as Jannika stumbled out of the command room, scratches all over her body as her uniform was scorched and ripped. The room itself was on fire, she could hear some screams coming from the room as the alarm bell rang on the ship as the crew desperately tried to put out the fires, looking out she saw the torpedoes hit dead on the battlecruiser, almost immediately it started listing to one side.

The destroyer was shot at with a shot hitting and causing a fire but not destroying it, meanwhile the front of the cruiser was practically underwater as Jannike followed her fellow sailors as they made their way to the lifeboats.

One final volley was shot at the cruiser in which its front was once more hit and an explosion could be seen as the front part ripped off. Jumping into a lifeboat Jannike tried to get as many girls into the boat before releasing it into the ocean and paddling away from the boat.

The battlecruiser flipped over and began to sink as the destroyer made its way over to pick up survivors from the destroyers and the cruiser.

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Little Russia, Unknown Location  
KGB officer  
March 24

In front of the KGB officer was what was deemed as unacceptable prisoners, be they war prisoner (Bonple) or political prisoners (Kebab & West High). They had all been lined up and given shovels to dig a 6-foot long trench.

There were around two thousand of these girls considered undesirables and a danger to the union. They had just finished their digging as all at once the KGB officers raised their pistols and aimed it at the girls and fired over and over again in till each girl was lying in the ditch. Reloading their pistols they made their way to the trench and began filling it up, shooting any girl that moved.

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Little Germany, Little Cologne  
Erika  
March 25

Erika was sitting with Maho, Entra, Koume and a few other generals who had proven themselves during the invasion of Bonple. They were currently on a balcony with fancy food being served to them and some fancy drinks. It was a small restaurant that was beautiful in almost every aspect, it was on the side of the Little Rhine that crossed the city and allowed you to look onto the river as it passed and stare at all the amazing buildings and their architecture.

The restaurant was called Konrad and served classic german food like *Schneitzals, *Himmel und Aad, *Meittbrotchen and other types of german food. It was a nice relaxing situation as everyone talked to each other, joking around and releasing all that tension that had built up.

Erika was glad that she got to hang out with her best friend and her idol Maho, Maho had even alluded to perhaps creating some metals to rewards soldiers and generals for their efforts in combat.

Taking a bite out of her steak Erika couldn't see any possibilities of them losing this war, not with a Non-aggression pact with Pravda and rumours of an already divided confederation, some of which don't even wish to fight.

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Little USA, Little Fort Brag  
Alisa  
March 26

Alisa was sitting in her General's office, she had been granted a year to train her girls into fighting shape, she had free reign on how she wished to proceed with it. She was also still the head of the Intelligence department and so even if she is swamped with extra work it granted her a special ability to make certain divisions that are more experimental. She already had two airborne divisions and a special forces division.

Grabbing the Newspaper that had just arrived she read the title of it out loud.

"Phoney war"

Reading the article over she found herself scoffing at it as the reporter stated "the quietness on the western front would make one think that there was no war in Little Europe". It had even brought up the point that peace could be made as both sides seemed unwilling to fight.

Throwing the newspaper in the bin Alisa disregarded it and continued sifting through the reports she had to read over. Including the training report of this week for her entire army which was getting close to 250,000 girls.

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Little Italia, Little Rome  
Anchovy  
March 28

Anchovy was holding a spare rifle that had been passed to her and she had her *Barretta pistol holstered. She was in the Palazzo del Quirinale. The building was occupied by the PVA which had found out about a plot to overthrow the Duce and had secured the Palace.

The Arditi special forces were currently trying to fight through the rebels who were following the president and the Queen of Anzio. The rebels numbered around 5,000 girls strong, most of which were considered untrained, meanwhile, her forces of loyal members were 800 PVA and 2,500 Arditi soldiers expertly trained for Urban combat.

One of the windows nearby shattered as Anchovy hugged the wall and peeked out into the darkness of the night and fired her rifle. It was early morning around 3:00 am and she knew that Miho and a small contingency of her forces should be arriving later today. Most likely ignorant of this insurrection.

Pulling the bolt back Anchovy huffed in frustration, the bastards had made her first battle that she was a part of about an insurrection against her leadership. Pulling the trigger she gave a self-satisfied smile as one of the rebels fell.

Her hair was a long messy wave of green as her classic twin drill hairstyle was certainly less important than fighting with her bodyguards who had fortified the palace. They had even managed to smuggle two machinegun's which was how they had been holding off a force that outnumbered them almost 2:1.

Her precious black cape flowed behind her as she switched window to window. Firing a shot while yelling war cries and egotistical phrases at the rebels while at the same time she could be seen singing some of Anzio's marching songs such as *Funiculi Funiculi, *Le Canzone del Piave, *Giovinezza, *Inno dei Ballilla, *Canto Degli Arditi and *Facetta Nera.

Her shots rang true throughout the battle as the police around her fought off wave after wave of rebels even after they ran out of machinegun ammo. The Arditi on the other side of the block could hear her voice as it rang out throughout the night inspiring hope in the special forces as they fought guerrilla fighters.

Soon the sun began to rise as Anchovy could be found in the entrance of the building leading another counterattack against the rebels and forcing them back across the courtyard to take refuge in their captured buildings.

The sounds of gunfire were suddenly muffled as the noise of a tank engine could be heard rolling through the town. Anchovy prayed to whatever god there was in this world to have that tank belong to Miho.

She set herself up next to the door and turned the corner firing her pistol, she had run out of ammo in her rifle long ago. She smirked once more as she saw one of the enemy girls fall to her shot. The courtyard was littered with bodies with the grass having been turned read and the beautiful fountain was now bleeding red.

The uniform of the rebels was a dirty brown, it made her gag with how terrible the uniform looked. She reloaded her shot as she heard the sound of a machinegun and cannon start to fire as she began singing once more, her way of boosting the morale of all the girls who had willingly locked themselves in the palace with her planning to fight to the death.

Peeking out once more she saw the rebels running away deeper into the city as machinegun fire with green tracers followed them. A loud cannon shot was heard and an explosion down into the city could be heard.

Suddenly Miho who was sticking outside of her tank as always was seen in her Panzer IV D driving down the road with a group of Arditi riding the tank an Anzio flag flying behind the tank.

"Miho just in time" Anchovy called out

Miho smiled shyly "seems like it Anchovy"

White flags soon came out as more and more Ooarai tanks and infantry shifted the numbers into a ridiculously outnumbering the rebels and with unchallenged tank support. The rebels came out with hands in the air as the president and Queen were found among them.

She would need to sentence the girls appropriately and have a speech ready for tomorrow.

————————————————————————  
a few hours later in a meeting with Miho

Sitting at a table in the palace with ICI agents stationed throughout the building and PVA guarding the outside of the room, the room itself was empty as the information had been considered too classified.

" So Miho, I would like to first thank you for assisting me with the rebels this morning." Anchovy genuinely thanked Miho and hugged her before sitting back down.

"No problem at all, we are allies Anchovy although perhaps our nation's relationship could be described as siblings." Miho had timidly accepted the hug and gratitude showed by Anchovy

"We need to discuss a few things about the war but I have a feeling this information that you've deemed this classified should be discussed first" Anchovy inquired from Miho her hair was still a mess as the rebels had all been rounded up only an hour before.

"Yes, I've recently discovered and confirmed thanks to the ICI agents that Kuromorimine had made a deal with Pravda to sell us out. I was just approaching you wondering that when I do go at war with Maho that you'll stand beside me."

"of course Miho, I'll stand beside you if you decided to go to war tomorrow," Anchovy promised

Miho sighed in relief and said "What did you originally call this meeting for"

"It was to inform you that Anzio would officially join the fight on May 21 against the Allied powers, that being the Commonwealth and Confederation. Unless you wish for Anzio to stay out of the war."

"No no, we should keep the pretense that nothing is wrong here. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"I was gonna request some reinforcements for Little Africa but you better keep yours on the continent. Instead, do you think we could do some training?"

"How would you feel if I brought some Bonple soldiers that have joined us on our crusade for revenge?"

Anchovy gave a smug smirk and said "I would love to have them join us. Should we start getting in contact with the allies?"

"No, we need to win against them to gain some bargaining chips for negotiations."

They continued talking about tactics, strategy and the problems with the rebels before going out to eat and continuing the talk with how to act with the traitors.

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Word Ledger

Hurricane: a British plane with 12 machineguns and considered a great bomber killer but not as good of a fighter killer.

Wellington: a British strategic bomber made to bomb a large area with multiple bombs.

Schneitzals: Thin slice of fried meat

Himmel und Aad: Mashed potatoes mixed with apples giving it a sweet taste

Meittbrotchen: Diced raw pork that is served with salt and black pepper.

Barretta: the main Italian pistol during WW2

Funiculi Funiculi: Anzio's marching song, original an Italian song about climbing up a mountain

Le Canzone del Piave: Song talking about how the Italian troops pushed the Austrian-Hungarians back in a heroic battle.

Giovinezza: A fascist song talking about the nationalism and youth of Italy. (I do condemn Fascism but the song is nice to listen too.)

Inno dei Ballilla: Talks about Nationalism and the pride of the Italian's. I can't find the information letting me know if it is fascist or not. (it was made in 1927 so probably a fascist song)

Canto Degli Arditi: A Fascist song that glorifies what the Arditti special forces did in WW1. Also talks about nationalism and pride in Italian soldiers.

Facetta Nera: A song talking about how the Italian soldiers freed slaves in Ethiopia and set them free and brought them to Italy for a new life. Considered a controversial song both during fascist Italy and nowadays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter. There won't be too much action in the next few chapters as things die down a bit. Please leave a review, comment or constructive criticism it means a ton for me. I hope you enjoyed this chapter introducing you to what I'm gonna call the Phony War Arc. Have a good day.
> 
> Signed Irish☘️
> 
> 2020/09/27


	10. War of Piecemeal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Phoney War continues as no major movement or attacks are made. Only small skirmishes and an escalating air conflict can even clue in someone into the fact that their is a war going on.

Little Rome  
Anchovy  
March 30

Anchovy stood on her balcony in her palace overlooking the courtyard which was currently packed with soldiers and guards that had just fought off the rebels two days ago as well as civilians scattered throughout the crowd. Her light green hair was in her classic twin drill style held up with two black ribbons, her crop in her right white-gloved hand as her cape bellowed in the background. Her face was serious as her brown eyes stared into the soul of every soldier. Her uniform was in a pristine condition looking as if two days ago she hadn't been fighting for her life.

With a swish of her crop she spoke aloud microphones specifically placed to capture her voice transmitted it over radio waves, every soldier in the Anzio empire be they Anzio or Blues were listening in gathered by their radio as her voice came through. 

"Soldiers of Anzio, it saddens me to bring you this news. Two days ago during the pitch dark morning, a group of cowardly rebels lead by the Queen of Anzio and the president of Anzio lead a coup d'etat marching their troops with the goal of Killing.... your Duce in her sleep. Thankfully through the brave work of the PVA who guarded me and repelled waves after waves of rebels as we fought together non-stop through the darkness of the morning up into the sunrise of the morning with the Arditi special forces who had been visiting Little Rome fighting through the rebels to reach us." Her voice filled with passion as she retold the story of that fateful morning. 

"We can also not forget our brave allies in the Ooarai Empire a small delegation that had arrived in the city immediately throwing themselves against the rebels with Miho even personally leading her forces forward." She cast a glance to Miho who was listening just outside the courtyard in the packed street on top of her tank.

Another swish of the crop which could even be heard through the radio

" We are surrounded by enemies inside and outside of our great and glorious Empire! The enemies are knocking at our doorstep, they will try to find a crack and will filter in like a disease to corrupt us and make us fall from the heavens with their sinful whispers. I ask of you my dear girls, will you be proud loyal soldiers of Anzio High! Will you be proud soldiers of Blue High! Will you be proud soldiers of such a glorious empire! Will you trust in your Duce to lead you to victory!" 

With a voice full of confidence and devotion to her nation as well as almost hypnotizing the audience into following her every word dripping off her *silver tongue, the crowd which had been listening with abated breath abruptly erupted into cheers chanting 

"DUCE! DUCE! DUCE! DUCE!" 

————————————————————————  
Random Anzio Soldiers gathered around the radio

The sounds of cheering and chants could be heard from the radio as the five girls gathered around the radio felt as if they were at the rally, they could practically see their Duce speaking to them as if she was in the same room as them and asking them if they would personally pledge themselves to her. They chanted as if they were there, even if their Duce couldn't hear them they chanted, it was the principle that mattered.

Swiftly the girls and the crowd was silenced as the iconic swish of their Duce's crop was heard, through the radio the girls heard her voice start up once more full of belief and conviction in them. 

" It fill's me with joy that you feel this way about your Duce but I have one final question for you. We have in our custody the rebel Leaders and the Rebels themselves, I as your Duce humbly ask of you what do you wish for us to do with these leaders. I am a leader of my people and therefore my people should decide what to do with these traitors."

The five girls all had a frown on their face as they thought deeply before unconsciously all whispering their answer "Death" 

Suddenly the radio which had been silent blared up again with the voices of the crowd calling for their death. Another swish of her crop and the Duce silenced the crowds. 

"If you have chosen death then death is what shall befall them. I promise you with all my heart that I will make this empire the greatest in the world. Step in step the Empires of Ooarai and Anzio shall move forward and we will grasp victory in both of our hands tightly, no matter the enemies we face, no matter how strong they are as long as we remain loyal to each other, bonded to each other with the faith of sisterhood than we shall be victorious! I believe in our soldiers! I believe in our sailors! I believe that victory is ours! No enemies can stand in the way of the combined strength of the Ooarai and Anzio empires!" 

————————————————————————  
Anchovy, Little Rome

Anchovy finished her speech with a final swish of her crop, her white-gloved hand gripped it slightly tighter as she brought it down her cape bellowing once more behind her as she looked over to Miho who was just outside the courtyard sitting on her tank with her crew watching her eyes glinting with amusement and pride. 

Turning around abruptly she walked away her cape flowing behind her to the sounds of the cheering crowd chanting her title fading into the background as her boot's clacked away. She hadn't been lying when she said step in step with Ooarai she would grasp victory and make Anzio and Blue great again, she was certain together that this victory would be theirs.

————————————————————————  
Little Moldova, a province in Little Romania  
Marina  
April 2 

Marina watched over the land in front of her, she was wearing a modified field cap that had two pointed sections making it look as if she had bat ears. Her black cape was wrapped around her, she was wearing the normal senshado uniform a black buttoned-up Romanian world war two dress shirt with a white skirt. She was also wearing black high socks with black boot's, sadly her usual black heels were impractical for use. 

The land in Moldova could be categorized as rolling hills, plain fields and flat plateaus. Although not the worse land to be tasked to defend it could be better. She had been training with Miho before the event had started to train her tactical and strategic skills. She stared at her *tarot cards in her pocket, she hated that she had been told to not base her strategy solely on her cards. She could allow it to influence her tactics but she wouldn't base her tactics around it. At least that was how Miho had been training her, she had also stated that she should use the cards as a boost to morale since most of her soldiers fervently believed in it, if she said the tarot cards told her to do it than they would follow her to hell if she ordered them too. 

Shaking her head at the small amount of guilt that filled her for manipulating her soldiers, she stared at the map in her hands, she had marked out the defensive positions. She had been tasked with the entire Count armies to hold the south, Yogurt would hold the middle and Ooarai would hold the north. She had developed a *defence-in-depth strategy, the goal wasn't to stop Pravda in their tracks but too slowly bring them to a stop. 

With this she had ordered the army's to dig in, their were three strategic defensive lines, the first of them was at the border, a set of trenches, traps and hidden tanks and anti-tank guns would be set up. Once they felt like they were going to be overwhelmed they would retreat to the river line, of which they had another line of trenches and hidden guns as well as wooden bunkers. If they had the time they would also have a set of dug in caves that would have *dugouts on the side of the hill where the enemies would be approaching them, allowing them to set up even better-defended machine guns and anti-tank firing positions.

The final and last proper defensive line was a set of concrete bunkers and trenches that were being built in the steep hills and plateaus stretching from the Little Black Sea towards Little Chisinau before reaching the north near a small little town called Little Birceni. 

They had been working non-stop since January, only temporarily stopping during February to support the right flank of the Ooarai army during the invasion of Bonple. It had been the first time she had used tactics and strategy without her tarot cards and it had turned out great. 

Studying the map Marina continued strategizing how to better her defences. She had set up the army so that there were three armies, the North Count army, the Central Count army and the South Count army. She had given Noemi command of the northern army while Mizuki commanded the southern army. They were both capable commanders even if Noemi was slightly inexperienced. Marina would personally command the central army of which was the smallest as they covered the least amount of ground but had the critical objective of holding Little Chisinau which was a victory city and a critical crossroad section for supplies and reinforcements.

The armies themselves differed in two major ways, while the south army held the most tanks it had fewer infantry considering the terrain in the south was fairly flat and was more advantageous towards tanks and less toward infantry, they would also be given the most engineers in hopes of being able to fill the open fields into a tankers hell with mines and tank traps. 

The north army had plenty of infantry and artillery but a limited amount of tanks, they had steep hills and plenty of lands that are unsuitable for tanks with dense forests and creeks and rivers to slow them down, they would also be receiving the most air support and even had the possibility of receiving some reinforcements from Yogurt's armies. 

Meanwhile, her central army lacked almost a bit of everything, they had very little infantry, tanks, artillery and air support but they had elite units holding a dense forest, large river and rugged hills and steep plateau's, their main advantage was that all their units were elites from the Bonple campaign, while most of the Count army was inexperienced all of her soldiers had been baptized in the fires of combat during the Bonple campaign and had even repelled the Pravda army in a surprise battle, they also had the easiest access to reserves and supplies.

————————————————————————  
Little Vienna   
Anne   
April 4

Anne watched in front of her as the prisoners that were getting off the trucks put on their uniform and were handed a gun before being sent off to train with the rest of the Bonple Corp which starting today been renamed as the Bonple Legion. It was almost at army size with around 145,264 soldiers being in the army. 

She looked behind her at the boxes that had just arrived, they weren't weapons or anything close to that but she was sure that this would be an appreciated gesture and would gain a lot of the trust and faith in the soldiers who wondered why they were joining their enemies to fight for them. 

The box contained rows and rows of medals, the medal showed a soldier defending her homeland and the ribbon attached to the metal was coloured red and white. The medal had officially been called the "Defense of Bonple Medal", it was to be given to all Bonple soldiers who had served in the defence of their territory whether they were prisoners or not. 

It would be handed out later today during supper in a ceremony, in this ceremony she would also announce the flag that the Bonple army would be using as well as the Flag that her Division would use. The army flag was a simple flag with red and white horizontal striped with an iron wall in the middle and the words Little Danzig in the middle. 

The division flag was the one with the laurel wreath and Polish legion written on it, with the four flags of Ooarai in each corner and the red iron cross and white background. 

They had been able to convince around half of the prisoners to join, it was around the number of girls she expected to join her, it was simply foolish to believe more of the girls would have joined her after fighting for a month against Ooarai. She had barely scraped together enough pilots to form a Bonple airforce. 

As for the equipment in the army, well Ooarai was barely able to supply 45,000 troops so they were now severely underequipped with only around thirty percent of the army being equipped for combat. Although she had been told that she can expect it to be around sixty percent of the army being equipped by the end of next month and almost ninety percent of the army the month after that. 

Running her hand through her hair she glanced back at the boxes full of metals and at the soldier's training in front of her, this was much more stressful than she thought it was, how did Jajka keep her composure all the time. 

Sighing she adjusted her uniform before going out to walk among the troops and watch them a bit more closely as well as talk with a few officers and generally build a relationship with the new recruits.

————————————————————————  
Border of Little France and Little Germany  
Eclair  
April 5

Eclair was in her *Somua S35 as she placed the map on the back of the engine section of her tank, the confederation was filled with plenty of tension, one of the main ones was the change in leadership with Eclair taking the commander position after forcing a girl named Madeleine to step away from command a year ago.

Sadly this tournament had forced her to reaccept the old commander and her loyal supporters back into her folds creating a rather distinctive split between the Maginot army with those who listen to the lower-ranked general Madeleine over Eclair. It was the root problem of all the other problems in the Maginot army. 

She had been forced to give Madeleine command of the Little Italia front as well as what had come to be called the Maginot-BC line, a system of fortifications. She had also been backed into a corner where she was forced to give Colombier control over the troops on the Little Spain front. 

Meanwhile, she had secured the Little Switzerland front as hers and had been able to secure most of the reserves to be under her command allowing her to attack any front she saw fit with said reserves.

The only two loyal generals she has are Fondue and Galette, with Fondue being vice-commander of the reserve corps inside her reserve army meanwhile Galette was in command of the Switzerland front army and was told to remain on the defensive on that front with orders to properly counter-attack whenever the opportunity arrives.

Talking about counter-attacks she was about to commit her own attack. So far Maria and herself had agreed on remaining on the defensive but they had found a fairly week gap inside the enemy lines. They had called it the Saar's gap and would be launching their first offensive their today, the heavy tanks of BC freedom consisting of *Char B1 Bis would charge forwards like *cuirassiers attracting all the attention and covering the infantry behind them, behind the heavy tanks would be Eclair's Lightning division which would exploit the advance and using the chaos of the battle would charge in close and use their rapid-firing guns to knock out as many enemies as possible before they would stop and set up some defensive positions. 

The heavy tanks began moving up and Eclair grabbed the two flags inside her tank and signalled to the others to begin moving up, only the tank leaders had radios resulting in close to no tanks having radios. 

She entered the turret of her tank and loaded the cannon with an HE shell, they wouldn't be facing Kuromorimine today since this section was still held by Bellwall. She aimed the cannon and fired the gun watching as her HE shell sailed over her friendly troops and crashed into the trench line set up in front of her. 

The heavy tanks were suddenly hit by a wave of anti-tank weapons only to bounce them all off, the machinegun's blared on both sides as the constant pinging noises began being heard inside of her tank creating a deafening echo.

This was her first battle, she was a bit shaken at the pings that seemed to reverberate through the tanks. She loaded another shell into her cannon and aimed it once more before firing it again. The driver was at cruising speed, just slow enough for her to be able to aim her cannon, the heavy tanks lumbered forwards firing both of their guns throwing dirt all over the place. 

Suddenly a few hidden enemy tanks made their appearance dug in Panzer 38T tanks and Panzer 35T tanks fired at the approaching tanks mostly bouncing off the front of the Char B1 but occasionally hitting a track or worse one of the tanks behind them like an *FT17 knocking them out. 

Her tank bounced a few of these shells as she finally reached the trench line itself, a quick peek showed the friendly infantry with their bayonets attached charging into the trenches. Firing her machinegun in support of the infantry she shot her cannon hitting a Panzer 38T and causing black smoke to come spilling out of the tank. 

The enemy began retreating and a small vicious and smug smile appeared on Eclair's face this was the time for her division to shine, she could chase the retreating enemy forces and cause even more casualties like the *Hussars from Napoleon times.

"all tanks full speed ahead chase the enemy in till the ridge 1 Km from here" she signalled with her flags

She knew it was as far as she could afford to push without the fear of being encircled. A small nudge with her foot signalled to her driver to start driving forward. While the BC infantry and tanks set up a small perimeter and began treating the wounded and the prisoners that had been captured her lightning division immediately exited out of the trench and chased the retreating enemy firing their rifles in pursuit, while her tanks chased after the Panzer 35T and the 38T. 

Her cannon fired again knocking out another tank as they began climbing up the ridge, their was a trail of death and destruction following them as knocked out tanks could be found along their trail as well as dead Bellwall infantry. 

Their infantry had been slowly falling behind but had kept running and chasing after the enemy. Climbing up the hill she had reloaded once more and fired the cannon knocking out another enemy as she peaked the hill she opened the hatch behind her grabbed her set of binoculars and exited the turret standing on the tank to look on towards the retreating enemies. 

20 tanks had gotten away and at least a few companies of infantry, trailing the binoculars upwards her eyes widen in shock and a french cuss word left her mouth. 

"Tabarnak" 

In front of her was a fresh armoured division, worse of all it was Kuromorimine forces she could tell by the flag they were flying and the iron cross on their tanks. They had to be at least 500 meters away, quickly sliding into her tank she grabbed her flags and signalled to her tanks. 

"Fallback! Kuromorimine tanks spotted I repeat Fallback!" 

Her driver had heard her yelling the message turned the tank around and began moving away from the hill when 2 shells landed behind them where they had been moments before. They sped down the hill and began their trek to safety when they were halfway back she glanced back to see the Kuromorimine tanks set up and firing at them a wave of shell's crashed into the ground kicking up dirt everywhere and one that landed right next to the tank threw dirt into the tank. 

The infantry was out of range still, they had basically made it back to base the tanks were another story entirely as they dodged the shells as much as possible and fired back as quick as possible. At such a range as this Eclair knew that both sides would be unlikely to hit anything but while a hit from her side would do very little to no damage, they would be hitting the very vulnerable engines of her tanks. 

Another wave of shells and one of the tanks were hit and suddenly engulfed in fire. Another one was smoking black smog and a third seemed to have been disabled somehow. They were just 100 meters away, they were so close to safety. Another volley of missed shots as the tank seemed to speed up just slightly as if trying to give its all as they crossed the Char B1 Bis already set up in a defensive position. 

Looking back she grimaced as a shell landed just behind her tank as the Lightning Division fled further behind their line to regroup. They had just barely dodged death, if they had been a minute too late they would have all died from those reinforcements.

Clutching her stomach as a stomach began bothering her, she had gotten too aggressive with the *cavalry tanks, pushed too far and had almost paid for it. She had lost 15 tanks in the retreat and another 10 in the assault, not terrible but that was 95 girls she would never see again. 

————————————————————————  
Little Black Sea  
Nicolett  
April 7

Nicolett was overlooking her small patrol fleet of which was made up of 4 destroyers, 2 light cruisers and 1 *Heavy cruiser of which she was currently commanding. She was on a small patrol that would patrol the nearby waters looking for any St-Gloriana excursion from Little Egypt.

The Ooarai naval Flag flew proudly on her ships that were sailing in the slightly rougher sea's, she had spotted a Pravda Battleship and two cruisers as well as 4 destroyers making their way towards her. Although she had brought all the ships to a state of readiness she had been told to watch out for aggression coming from Pravda. 

Minutes passed by as the fleets got closer and closer to each other a storm had started brewing overhead that neither captain had noticed. 

The Heavy cruiser ship named the Prinz Eugen From the Prinz Class was the leading ships and Nicolett's flagship, it was one of the best heavy cruiser ships that had been designed so far, with two-three gun turrets in the front and the back holding 14-inch guns as well as six 8 inch secondary turreted guns on the side of the ship and 2 torpedo launchers on each side of the ship containing 4 torpedo tubes each. The ship itself sailed at a top speed of 38 Knots, the only lacking part was the armour considering that the ship could be damaged by most light cruisers.

Nicolett was watching the Pravda navy as it began turning away breathing a sigh of relief as her ship was suddenly hit by some rough waves, quickly grabbing onto a chair to steady her balance she looked back up only to see flashes from the Pravda ships and the loud sudden booming sound reverberating across the ways from the shots.

"Everybody to battle stations!" 

She yelled out as a sudden and piercing alarm started blaring from her ship just as shells began landing around the Ooarai ships, one of the shells slammed into the front of the ship hitting the first cannon. 

"*Turret A is jammed!" 

She cursed as she heard over the radio the news, she was outnumbered and outgunned and they were too close to be able to successfully retreat from the enemy. 

"Incoming Wave brace for impact!"

She yelled just in time as the cruiser began climbing the huge wave in front of it, the rain outside and the sudden darkness inside the storm obscured the view of all ships. She was sure it would be messing with their communication systems as well but there was a small silver lining considering that they would be able to close in towards the enemy and launch their torpedoes using the waves to hide from returning fire.

"All ships turn towards the enemy, we need to break their formation with a charge and launch our torpedoes, Full speed ahead and good luck."

The Prinz Eugen lurched forward with one locked cannon as it began climbing a second wave just barely coming into sight of a cruiser, the three operational guns fired at it with the secondary guns following behind before the cruiser dipped back down and out of sight of the enemy ship barely dodging the returning fire that slammed into the wave behind them.

Steadily making their way towards the enemies the Ooarai ships had lost contact with each other. Out of the blue, the Prinz Eugen popped over the wave and in front of it was the enemy battleship having accidentally crashed into one of its own destroyers horribly crippling said destroyer. 

The guns pointed towards the battleship as the torpedoes were readied, a volley was fired from their ship and smashed into the ship or sailed overhead into an incoming wave. An enemy turret was engulfed in fire as the torpedoes were released as the cruiser sped towards the wave in front of it. 

A wave of shots slammed into the side of the Prinz Eugene and a fire was started on her deck as it climbed the wave and dipped back down a thick black smoke following behind her. A minute passed by before explosions could be heard behind her as a column of water was raised high enough to rise over the waves before crashing back down. 

The fire in the front of the ship began to spread as she steered it towards another wave double the size of the previous ones.

"Everyone get below deck!!" 

The yell was echoed up and down the ship as everyone shut the doors just in time for the ship to crash through the wave instead of climbing it. The fire was extinguished as the water washed over the ship before it exited the other side of the wave and crashed back downwards the waves themselves starting to calm down as the storm began to pass over them. 

The waves calmed back down to simply choppy and rough waves as the heavy rain outpour became a simple light rain. Communication was suddenly reestablished as voices blared out in the distance. 

"Damage Report" She ordered 

"This is light cruiser Bucharest, reporting significant damage to the superstructure and light flooding."

"This is light cruiser Sofia, reporting heavy flooding and damage to Turrets A and *Turrets D as well as a contained fire." 

"This is destroyer Orjen, reporting light damage to propeller and light flooding." 

"This is destroyer Ulan, reporting heavy damage to the majority of the ship and uncontrolled fire on deck. No flooding." 

"-------"

"This is destroyer Dinara, light damage to superstructure.... we saw Destroyer Velebit start sinking during the fight near two enemy destroyers." 

Grabbing her binoculars she began scanning the rough waters, she found the Pravda battleship that she had hit with some torpedoes slowly submerging on its side as it began to *capsize. One cruiser was broken in half and sinking while the other one was slowly listing to one side as it attempted to limp away, she knew that it would probably sink before it got anywhere close to a Pravda port. The destroyer that had been rammed was sinking backwards... probably hit by a torpedo itself and she spotted two more Pravda flag poles sinking into the water the rest of the ship not visible. 

Scanning the water she spotted some girls floating in the water as the Ooarai naval flag was slowly sinking into the water.

"There they are! 40 degree's starboard" 

The cruiser began making its way to the girls slowly coming to a stop and bringing the shivering girls onboard. 

Nicolett leaned backwards and sighed in relief and they said this was a normal calm patrol route.

The crews on that day would be the first Ooarai sailors to fight in a naval battle which had resulted in 1 friendly destroyer sunk and 1 destroyer scuttled meanwhile 1 battleship, 1 cruiser and 4 destroyers were sunk with one presumed to have been scuttled, ironically the first Ooarai naval battle was against an enemy they weren't even at war against. Once they returned to port they would all be awarded the Sailor's medal with some girls also receiving the Bravery medal. For her work Nicolett would be receiving a promotion from admiral to *grand admiral of the Ooarai fleet's, a position which had been empty beforehand. She would also receive both previously mentioned Medals as well as the military merits cross. 

————————————————————————  
Little Paris  
April 8

Waves and waves of planes could be seen going towards the city of lights, the groups of planes acted as artificial clouds as they periodically blocked out the sun. Planes were fighting above them, one side keeping the other side of the bombers.

The soldiers and civilians on the ground stared in amazement as the planes approached them to ignorant to realize the danger they were putting themselves in. The bomb bay doors slowly opened to reveal dozens of bombs each weighing around *250 pounds. 

Suddenly a deafening whistle could be heard as hundreds and hundreds of bombs were dropped as they fell towards the city. A mindless panic gripped the civilians and the soldiers below as they rushed into metro systems, buildings and even alleys in fear of the whistle. Not knowing what was to come. 

It started with one explosion before quickly multiplying and before anybody knew it the entire city was engulfed in a dull orange colour as flames spread through the city as flashes appeared in the city each time a bomb exploded. 

The bombing lasted a total of 30 minutes, during it all, some bombers were shot down adding black trails of smoke as they crashed into the city and the nearby fields. The fields around Little Paris were littered with crashed and burnt out planes from both sides as they left black smoke and small fires in the dozens in the surrounding fields. 

————————————————————————  
Little Benelux, East Little Belgium  
Assam   
April 9th

Assam watched as her troops were setting themselves up, the St-Glorianna expeditionary forces were only a fraction of the actual St-Glorianna army but the rest of them had been deemed too untrained to be sent to France and therefore would continue training in the Home Islands. 

This wasn't to say that her army was small by any standard, she had an army which reached the size of 250,000 and her army would receive 200,000 new soldiers by the beginning of May. For now, though the plan was to hold the border of Little Belgium with a fallback line being the Little Meuse river, this would allow the Waffle Armies to split themselves between guarding Little Luxembourg and South Belgium which were known for their dense forests and hilly terrain as well as its rural roads.

Meanwhile, BC freedom would hold Little Netherlands in the north, which was full of small and big rivers as well as easily floodable territory. Assam had her troops immediately start improving the trenches and fortifications that they had inherited from the overstretched Waffle and BC armies. 

They had very little reserves at the moment with only a few divisions being kept back to plug up any holes created in the line. 

Assam was currently stationed in the city of Little Liege a fortified city with anti-air emplacements and an actual fort just outside the city itself. She had heard some reports of the occasional skirmish where her troops had encountered an enemy patrol group. The frontline all across the Confederation borders had started looking a bit too much like WW1 as artillery bombarded both sides continuously and had created a 1 km long corridor of death all along the frontline. 

Resting her head against the desk she thought about the book's on *Montgomery she had read as well as books on *Wellington. Her blonde hair was splayed all over the desk. She had been able to get the okay from Darjeeling to start sending GI6 operatives into enemy lines in an attempt to start gathering information. 

She had kept most of her *Matilda II behind enemy lines as she knew that they are currently impenetrable by enemy guns and her *Crusaders II would be used as quick stop gaps, slowing the enemy in till the Matilda's arrived and counter attacked the enemy. 

Now it was just a waiting game as both forces built up their armies somberly thought Assam, and when the armies clashed it would be a battle bigger than anybody had ever seen as well as containing the most deaths seen so far. 

She knew it in her guts.

————————————————————————  
Little Cologne   
Virginia Code (Diana)  
April 10

Long black hair flowed behind a beautiful girl that was slowly making her way through the streets of Little Cologne, truly a beautiful city. She had just been chatting up some soldiers nearby and had gotten some critical information about where the local HQ was, specifically Maho's HQ. 

She was dressed in a pearly white dressed fairly tight on her, high heels and some jewelry around her neck looking the part of a rich dainty little girl enjoying her time. Her heels clicked and clacked as she made her way to the office building. 

She made it look as if she was taking a small break near a pole, rubbing her feet as if they were sore from the walk over here. All the while she studied the office building, 2 stories tall, a metal fence around the building about 20 meters away from the building, two guards at the door and two at the gates to the fence. As well as some flashlights in peering out of the window's every now and then probably some patrols. 

Taking a small alleyway she followed it through, she turned every now and then crossing a few streets before finding herself on the back of the office building near the fences. Checking her purse she opened up a secret pouch revealing multiple secret tools. Lockpicking tools, notepad, and some stripes of clothes as makeshift bandages. 

She studies the fence itself as she took off her heels and set them up in the corner of the alley, reaching into them she grabbed a knife hidden in the heel of one of her shoes and a pen from the other one. 

She looked at the space between the fences, trying to squeeze herself sideway's she quickly found a problem with trying to enter through this way.... her breast was simply too big. It's not like she had a ridiculous boob size actually she was more average in that department but it was still the extra few centimetres needed to start digging into her skin if she tried to enter through this way. 

Taking a step back she grabbed her bandages and slowly wrapping it around her chest, slowly tightening it in till her breast were all squashed up against her she tried once more breathing in and slowly inching her way through the fence in till she made it through. 

Rubbing her chest slightly from the pain she continued moving forwards towards the building. Hugging the wall she brought out her lockpicking tools and began working on one of the windows. Slowly but surely moving it around, she wasn't the most experienced with lock picking but it was a skill needed for spies and so she had learnt it. 

Hearing the soft click she muttered a few words to calm herself down as she lifted the window and brought out the small extendable stick to hold it as she placed her arms on the window seal and began climbing up. 

Lifting her body into the building she silently lowered herself to the floor before removing the stick and shutting the window once more. Making her way towards the stairs she remained as silent as a ninja watching for any flashes of light or sounds of steps coming her way. 

Reaching the stairs she slowly climbed up them to the top, she would start for the search from top to bottom looking for Maho's office. She started from the right and moved to the left, checking each office and finding nothing except for the occasional supply situation report or troop movement all of which she jotted down on paper. 

She quickly darted under a desk as she saw a flash of light in the hall, footsteps echoing down the hall, the two soldiers were talking in german. She may have been fluent in reading german but sadly she could only catch snippets of it in conversation she hadn't fully trained herself yet in how to speak it although she had been making leaps and bounds. 

Seeing under the desk their feet march by her she waited a few seconds before peeking out and seeing them turn the corner. She silently moved to the stairs and went down them, once more searching through the desk's for Maho's desk when she stumbled upon it. 

Quickly she began opening the drawers looking for any major plans or operations, she stumbled across four different operations. Opening them up she saw two of them had a rejected stamp on them, closing them and putting them back in their drawer she grabbed the other two. 

Operation Die Wacht Am Rhein and Schlieffen's plan, both plans were very similar with small deviation in how they were to be executed. One called for sweeping through Little Netherlands before turning the flank of the enemy forces and rushing downwards, it relied on speed and power to be executed as well as securing the bridges intact, this was Die Wacht Am Rhein. 

The Schlieffen Plan called for a slow and cautious advance through Little Netherlands, with an advance through Little Belgium once troops have been sucked into the battle in Little Netherlands in a hoped to cut them off and crush the pocket as quickly as possible. 

Gathering her notes she put away the files and slipped back down the stairs and back to her window. Opening it she slipped out and was about to make her way towards where she entered when she spotted two soldiers studying the oddly placed heels. Silently making her way to the other side of the building she reached the fences and forced herself through the gap once more. Taking a deep breath from the tight space she had just squeezed herself through she began walking off. She needed to get this information to Alisa so that it can make it's way to St-Glorianna. 

This could save a lot of lives on their side. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word Ledger
> 
> Silver tongue: someone who is charismatic, eloquent and persuasive with their words. Is capable of manipulating others into believing what they want them to believe.
> 
> Tarot Cards: Mystical cards are believed by some to predict the future. Usually related to gypsies and more specifically Romanian gypsies. 
> 
> Defence-in-Depth: a military strategy that calls for multiple layers of defensive lines to render your lines more difficult to breakthrough. When properly executed it makes your defensive line extremely hard to breakthrough.
> 
> Dugouts: In this context refers to small holes in the side of a hill where soldiers can shoot out of with rifles, machine-guns and anti-tank guns.
> 
> Somua S35: a french cavalry tank with good armour average speed and a weak gun (37mm cannon), also usually fitted without radios.
> 
> Char B1 bis: a french heavy tank with almost impenetrable armour (only the biggest of gun's stand a chance), incredibly slow, very long, has two guns a small 37mm cannon on the turret with a larger 75mm howitzer cannon fixated on the hull. Usually equipped with radio and considered the Tiger tank of early ww2 tanks. 
> 
> Cuirassiers: Heavy late Medival to Napoleonic era cavalry with chest plates that can block a musket ball. Equipped with pistols and swords and known for their devastating charges that could single-handedly change the course of the battle.
> 
> FT17: a world war 1 tank that revolutionized the tank industry, considered outdated and weak by world war 2 standards. It's slow, too low armoured and had a weak gun compared to most other tanks. 
> 
> Hussars: 16th-century to 19th-century cavalry known for their lightning-quick speed and devastating charges that would surprise enemies instead of relying on shock. Equipped with pistols and swords with some even having carbines.
> 
> Cavalry tank: The idea of having a fast tank to exploit any breakthrough in the enemy lines to cause as much chaos and damage to the fleeing and disorganized enemies while capturing as much territory as possible. 
> 
> Heavy Cruiser: A ship with relatively fast speed and good guns. Considered a cheaper alternative to a battlecruiser. A heavy hitter designed for patrols and capable of keeping up with light cruisers and destroyers.
> 
> Turret A-D: the Letters at the turret are made regarding where the turret itself is placed. With A and B being the front two turrets and C&D being the back two turrets. Note that the turrets are simply named from the one closest to the front of the ship to the one closest to the rear. So if you had 3 turrets in the front with 1 in the back then A, B, C would be in the front of the ship while D would be at the back.
> 
> Grand Admiral: The highest rank in the Ooarai Navy.
> 
> 250 Pound Bomb: a bomb that holds around 125 pounds of TNT explosives and the rest being the thickness of the metal. Perfect for destroying buildings and causing a lot of wide-area damage
> 
> Montgomery: a famous ww2 British general known for his cautious attacks and more defensive nature as well as the disastrous Operation Market Garden.
> 
> Wellington: the English general who defeated Napoleon during the Napoleonic wars.
> 
> Matilda II: an Infantry tank with heavy armour slow speed and rapid firing 2pdr gun (weak gun). Considered impenetrable from the front from anything that isn't a heavy gun.
> 
> Infantry tank: the idea of a slow tank moving around the speed of a walking person with thick armour to break through the enemy lines without taking any damage. 
> 
> Crusader II: one of the best examples of a cavalry tank, a fast mobile tank with little armour and a 2pdr rapid-firing cannon as well as being low profile.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, let me know what you guys thought of with the Anzio speech and the Spy part.... or just let me know your favourite part in this chapter that works too. I’ll be working on some art for this chapter (specifically some flags). Well again I hope you guys enjoyed sorry if this Authors note makes less sense than usual it’s 4am over here and I just finished editing everything. Please comment/review and let me know what you think of the story so far and what your theories are on them. I’d like to thank everyone whose commented or reviewed on this story it really makes my day when I read those reviews. Anyways hope you enjoyed an thank you for reading this far into my book. 
> 
> Signed Irishluck 🍀  
> 2020/11/12


	11. Authors note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explanation as to why my post has been irregular this month

I'm sorry guys for not updating last week, I'm gonna try to update twice this week (although that might be shooting a bit too high) I have midterms this week and have been swamped in work since last week. I hope you can accept my apology for not having a chapter ready. Again I just haven't had the time because of midterms.

Anyway's hope you guys have a good week and I hope that you stick with this story.

Signed Irishluck 🍀

(I'm debating deleting this AN once I post the next chapter, apologies if that somehow inconveniences you)


	12. The Gathering Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuing with the Phoney War Arc as the nations build up their armies and spy on each other.

Little Budapest Marshaling grounds  
Ochako  
April 11th

Ochako was currently in a tank, a panzer IIIF, she had been training for an entire week now with some trainers who were veterans of the Bonple invasion. She had been made a platoon commander of a group of tanks and was the tank commander of her assigned tank. 

She was partnered with 4 girls, a twin-tailed blond girl named Sasha who is brash and impulsive, a silver-haired girl named Yuno a sweet innocent girl, a black-haired girl named Chiasa with a shy and polite personality and finally a blue-haired girl named Misha a calculating and slightly manipulative girl. 

These girls formed her crew for her tank, Sasha was the gunner and Misha was the loader, both girls were twins and could almost predict what the other was going to do. Chiasa was the driver with Yuno being the radio operators, both girls were the youngest in the tank being first years. 

Her head was outside of the hatch looking through her binoculars as she watched the shell that had just been fired land a few dozen feet too short. She looked down to see Misha already fluidly loading the cannon as Sasha had pivoted her body out of the way while muttering calculations. 

"That was a little short Sasha" Ochako informed her gunner as the loader pulled back finished with loading.

A second later and the cannon blared once more the shell arcing and missing the target by a few feet this time. She noticed the shells from the other tanks on the range also hitting near their targets. 

This process was repeated a few more times before the shells had landed on target ten times in a row. Afterwards, Ochako ordered Chiasa to drive the tank back to the warehouse, the sun was already going down and their training was over. 

As annoying as doing these things was she knew that it would save them on the battlefield in the future, even if Sasha complained about the lack of action. Tomorrow would be some rifle training before having some classes on the functions of their tank and tactics for the commanders. 

Only another two or three weeks of this and training will be done. Being shaken out of her thoughts she looked over to see Yuno beckon her towards the cafeteria. She began to lift herself out of the tank and make her way over to the cafeteria, even if she didn't feel hungry as she would usually skip her suppers to save money as she lived alone. 

————————————————————————

Later that night Ochako found herself in her bed her thoughts running wild. She found it weird how real everything felt and she wasn't stupid everybody who would partake in this including herself would be changed forever by it, for better or for worse. 

She of course tried to keep her positive and bubbly attitude but she had read enough book's about war to know that it wasn't a pretty thing and that everything was gonna get worse before it got better. 

Hopefully, she'll be able to keep her crew alive, they had started to feel like close friends, something which she hadn't had for most of her life not to mention the fact that she had moved away from the Emerald Isle* to come to japan.

She tossed and turned a bit before settling down once more, trying to think about some happy thoughts she slowly fell asleep a soft smile on her face as she thought of her parents more than 9000 km away from her, she thought of her friends who were going through infantry training and she settled on her new friends in her crew a strong determination to keep them an alive and small amount of competitiveness flowed through her as she wanted Ooarai to win. 

————————————————————————  
Kuromorimine-Confederation Front   
Emi (Bellwall army)  
April 14th

Emi was currently sitting in one of the many trenches, her tank which was a Panzer IVD was sitting in a dug-in trench that was large enough to accommodate the tank and deep enough to block everything but the turret and gun. There was a small canopy above the tank with a camouflage net making it harder to find the tank. 

She had been assigned this front since the beginning of the war and aside from the almost daily artillery bombardment from both sides and the small offensive into the Saar's region which had lasted a few days as Kuromorimine tanks drove the Confederation out of the region. Things had been relatively quiet.... quiet and boring. 

Of course, she wasn't a moron, she had learnt about world war 1 when she was in Germany with her parents and she had learnt about trench warfare and the situation she found herself in was the exact same. 

She was facing the Maginot army, an army already trained to be the best at defending, on top of them already being geared towards defending they had built a line of trenches, tunnels and bunkers in the mountains. The defence itself was estimated to having about 25,000 artillery pieces per 10,000 meters and there were enough machineguns and anti-tank guns to turn any assault into a meatgrinder. 

The worst part was in the southern section of the front there was a river around 300 meters long combined with the mountainous terrain it made her tanks practically useless and her infantry which was nowhere as well trained or disciplined compared to Kuromorimine was ill-equipped for that type of battle. 

So for the last 3 months, she had sat in a trench playing cards, playing with dices and trying to keep the trenches clean or as clean as possible. Who would have thought that her coming back to Japan would result in her being in the same scenario as her ancestors who had fought in world war 1. 

Placing down her cards onto the table she called out "Four of a kind" 

Four kings were placed on the table with a queen, she saw the dishevelled faces of her comrades as they placed their hands onto the discard pile. Grabbing the snacks and coupons that had been laid out on the table she pocketed them. 

"I'm done for the night girls" a chorus of bemoans echoed from the 4 tank commanders she had been playing with. 

Shaking her head she walked away and opened one of the chocolate bars she had won and began eating it. Entering her dug in office she made her way to her desk seeing Kita on the radio doodling in her notebook as the headset was on her ears. 

Tossing one of the few luxurious chocolate bars she had she commented " No noise Kita?" 

"Nope, been quiet except for the check-ins. Scouts haven't found anything unusual and all of the sections of the line have been quiet" Kita responded swiftly while catching the chocolate bar

"About time you won a chocolate bar, you uncannily good at that game you know," Kita commented 

"The other girls project themselves too much. How have the delinquents been, no trouble?" She inquired 

"No Neko and Chifuyu have been keeping them under control and even been able to implement some discipline and training into them. You were right that they would be a handful." Kita responded. 

"They're a bit unpredictable but they'll adapt to combat better." 

She had just finished her sentence when the familiar whistling filled the air. Exiting out of the dugout she clutched the bell on the side of her entrance and began ringing it, soon the ringing was echoing up and down the trench line as nearby girls ran into the dugouts. There had even been a few girls who had been brave enough to be outside the trenches further back either with the tanks or just laying on the ground that scrambled to get to the trench. 

Girl's jumped into the trench and one of the girls she recognized as her loader practically dove into the trench. Grabbing her jacket she dragged her inside as girls rushed into her office. The ground shook as the first shell hit the ground. 

Hitomi her loader clutched her jacket in a hug as she was gently shaking thanks to the explosions, Emi rubbed her back gently. 

The explosions continued to echo outside, suddenly a girl clutched her head as she cried out 

"I can't take this anymore, the constant ringing, It's driving me insane just kill me" the girl began to shake as she fell into a fetal position and began crying and shaking her fingers digging into her arms resulting them to bleed. 

Slowly separating herself from Hitomi she made her way to the panicking and distressed girl who was crying. Laying next to her she slowly brought her head onto her lap, she ran her fingers through the girl's head gently just like her grandmother use to do to her back in Germany as she racked her brain for what song her grandmother would sing. 

Clearing her throat as the bombardment continued to rain down on the outside she began singing in a soft voice in her german tongue which thanks to the VR all the girls could understand and speak. 

*"Silent night, Holy night   
All is calm, all is bright   
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child   
Holy infant so tender and mild   
Sleep in heavenly peace  
Sleep in heavenly peace" *

A few of the girls that knew about the song joined in and the ones that didn't began humming along. As the small little room was filled with Emi's voice as the girl below her had stopped crying and simply clutched her skirt like a desperate little child. A quick glance around showed that everyone was seemingly more calm than before. She continued singing the song as the bombardment drew to its closure. 

As the last shell hit the trenches and the quietness once more enveloped the trenches, the only disturbance was the soft voice of Emi as she restarted the song and continued singing it slowly lifting the girl off her lap and prying her fingers off before handing her to Hitomi and ordering them both to stay here.

Motioning to a few girls to follow her she exited the dugout and found the trench to her right had collapsed on itself, peering to the left she saw the small opening where she had been playing poker had also collapsed... worst there was a hand sticking out of the dirt. 

The girls quickly grabbed a shovel and began digging around trying to unearth the girl. Grabbing her hand she gave a tug and the arm came out of the dirt separated from the rest of the body. Dropping it in a panic she let out a small squeak before her attention was drawn by a shout, rushing over to the sound she found a girl trying to desperately climb over the trench. 

"let go of me!" the girl was crying as she kicked the girl holding her back, rushing over with the other girls they grabbed onto her as Emi wrapped the girl in a hug. Hushing the girl she began softly rubbing her back as the girl struggled. 

"It's okay, it's over, just calm down we'll bring you to somewhere nice and safe away from here okay" she softly spoke the girl tiring herself out and collapsing on to her. 

————————————————————————  
Little Washington   
Aiko (Codename Adlertag)  
April 17

Aiko had been working effortlessly to work her way up the chains of command to be in a position where she could effectively spy for kuromorimine but as of right now she was a simple clerk that had to deliver messages about logistics and training. It was useful in that she had a fairly accurate estimate of the United Saunders army but she could only do so much. 

Sitting at her *typewriter she began writing another message that she had been given, something about needing transport planes and parachutes. Finishing up the writing she tore the paper off and marched over handing it on to another girl. Staying for a little small talk before making her way back to her desk she sat down and read the message. 

Diana

I have found some critical information on the Kuromorimine plans. I have infiltrated the Kuromorimine HQ and captured both of their main plans. I have sent the plans to the Intelligence office. This two-part communication system seems a little vulnerable in my opinion. I feel like we should change it so that the Intelligence department deals with this so I don't have to risk capture by sending a morse code over public channels. 

They have no suspicion that I have infiltrated the HQ, please send this information to St-Glorianna with expediency 

Diana 

Aika smiled to herself as she brushed her black hair out of her face and began typing up her message. Ripping the paper off her typewriter she made her way to the girl and handed in the paper while discreetly pocketing the paper into her pocket instead of throwing it into the disposable bin. 

Perhaps this boring and stupid job wasn't as bad as she thought, she was sure her Fuhrer Maho would be very interested in this information. 

————————————————————————  
Little Alsaic-Lorrain   
Madelaine  
April 18

Madeleine hadn't forgotten about how Eclair had kicked her out of the commander spot. She should be the one at the top, ruling the Maginot academy and guiding towards victory. Not like Eclair who insists that the girl's charge is like its world war 1. 

Some could say that she was still sour over having lost against the rebellious cocky brat and they would be right but she had a plan to take back control of Maginot permanently. The answer lay with Kuromorimine, if she could negotiate a successful deal with them then she could save Maginot from the inevitable downfall that would result from Eclair and Maries' stupid strategies. 

Having double-checked her message she began sending the morse code, she couldn't trust that Eclair hadn't planted a spy in her staff. 

The message read:

To Maho

I am sure you're surprised to hear from me but I assure you that the deal I am about to make to you should be carefully considered. I as well as around 3/4 of the Maginot army which would follow me would like to make a deal with you in hopes of saving Maginot from the fate that will befall both Waffles and BC academies. In return for us retreating to our core territories when you begin your invasion, we want to remain fully independent and in control of our territories. We will also join your side in this war and will support you with materials and girls to invade Confederation Africa in return I also expect some help in deposing the usurper Eclair from her position and to have her permanently silenced. If this deal interests you send me a communication, if I don't receive anything from you in a month I will assume that we do not have a deal. 

The true leader of Maginot Madeleine

She smiled to herself and she grabbed her wine glass and sipped on the wine in satisfaction, their was no way Maho could not agree to a deal where she would eliminate the second strongest army within the confederation. 

————————————————————————  
Little USA, Little Fort Bragg  
Alisa  
April 19

Alisa watched as the girl's trained with their *Stuart tanks, she had forgotten how lacking the USA armoured corp had been at the beginning of world war 2, she had gotten so used to the Sherman and all its properties that she was slightly thrown off from the lack of Sherman. 

Although it was sad that they couldn't have Shermans her ever creative and out of the box mind had immediately thought of different things she could focus a bit more on. Although she had idea's on how to use the Stuart if push came to shove she excelled in the field of doing things thought impossible or that were in the grey area when it came to morals. 

She had decided on introducing two new programs, the first being the slightly less grey unit of it being the Airborne unit. If she could coordinate it well enough she could capture key locations like hill's, bridges and airports before they even became a battlefield giving her the advantage if she can reach them with her tanks. 

The other unit was a less moral one, known simply as the devil's program as of now, the goal was to create pure killing machines that would infiltrate enemy lines killing and destroying everything in their path while leaving some kind of sign that they were there to strike fear in the enemy. If used correctly she could even break an entire group of enemies with simple fear. 

Of course, this was a pure volunteer basis but both programs promised some harsher training and better conditions. Her hopes were to form 2-3 airborne divisions and a few brigades of special forces. 

On the other hand, her tank and infantry units were finishing their basic training and she would begin drilling them in different way's, in her eyes they could never be prepared enough for war. She had also been doing her own version of the training, as she had slowly delegated some more tasks in her intelligence role as too she had some spared time and she spent it studying every battle that had happened so far, from the *battle of Cannae in 216BC to the *battle of Vienna in 1683 and even battles from ww2 and the cold war-like *Battle of the Bulge or *Operation Desert Storm. 

She had tried to inform herself with as many tactics and strategies from the most dishonourable to the most honourable nothing was left of the table as she sought to make herself the best general on the field. 

————————————————————————  
Port of Little Alexandria   
Charlotte  
April 22

Charlotte was sitting on her *Valentine MKIII as she watched the ship pull into the harbour, her forces combined with Rukuri's forces would be tasked with defending Little Egypt and keeping the Little Suez open. It was the lifeline for Koala academy and Little Australia. 

Her troops were fairly well trained and numbered at around a quarter to a million girls. Although their tanks and the heat were something new to them they would push through with their standard Koala Determination. 

Leaning back she repositioned her Slouched hat and placed her rifle across her lap, she listened to the soft rolling of the waves and the excited chattering of the soldiers. She almost felt giddy with being given command of the volunteer Koala Commonwealth forces (VKCF). 

————————————————————————  
Little London  
Darjeeling   
April 25

Darjeeling was sipping her cup of tea as she sat at the round table, Earl grey was directly in front of her with multiple members of the council also in front of her. You could consider them being the elected council that guides St-Gloriana and Darjeeling had gotten annoyed with them restricting her ability to manage the situations. 

It was like being president but with one hand tied behind your back, she couldn't make any military movement without interference from the council. Of course, she had been preparing for weeks now into deposing them and to have herself become the final voice for St-Gloriana. 

She had finally found some evidence of them going against St-Gloriana's interests. This would allow her to.... get rid of them, it pained her because of how much she admired Earl Grey but she knew that for her to be able to command effectively she needed the power to do it. 

"So Darjeeling what did you call this emergency meeting for?" Earl Grey questioned her 

"It better be good Darjeeling, we are busy making plans for the future you know" another girl who she had forgotten the name of snarkily pitched in.

"Nothing is more difficult and therefore more precious than to be able to decide" Darjeeling calmly quoted and started the meeting off.

She looked around the room before continuing "That's a quote from Napoleon Bonapart and I have found enough evidence from the *GI6 department that has led me to believe that the council no longer holds St-Gloriana's interests at heart."

She was cut off from continuing from three other girls who suddenly slammed their hands onto the table. 

"This is outrageous!" One of the older girls said 

"I call that we declare her a traitor and get rid of her!" Another girl said 

"You only got as far thanks to us!" Another girl shouted. 

A group of GI6 agents entered the room, three of them held some lend-lease Saunders *Thompson submachine guns and the fourth one held a pile of files and pictures that they placed onto the table. 

Meanwhile, Darjeeling had pulled out her *Webley revolver and held it in one hand the barrel pointed toward the leader Earl Grey as the handle of the revolver rested on the table. 

"We only want what's best for St-Gloriana! You know me Darjeeling I only want what's best for the academy!" Earl grey's voice rose as each word passed her lips.

"The photos show you conspiring to form peace with Kuromirimine, to abandon are ally the Bonple's and to ally them against Pravda and Saunders. That seems like treason to me Earl" Darjeeling's voice cut everyone off and chilled them with the cold in her voice 

"Let's not mention how much trouble you keep giving me in any attempt I make to position Gloriana in a better place. It almost seems like your working against me." Darjeeling continued 

"What do you think you are you crazy bitch, the queen of England!" another one of the girls lost her composure as she yelled at Darjeeling. 

Looking straight at the girl she said "I'm about to become the Queen of St-Gloriana. Do you have any last words" 

Earl Grey spoke as curtly and politely as she could " come on girls, you know you don't have to follow this little uptight tyrannical girl. You know the council has ju-" 

Earl Grey was cut off by a gunshot, the rip of the Webley was smoking as a small tear slid down Darjeeling's face. Earl Grey herself looked down at the bullet wound that was in between both her breasts, she clutched her chest as she slowly sat up.

"How c-c-could y-o-u?" Earl Grey asked 

"It hurts me more than it hurts you" Darjeeling responded 

All the other girls watched in shock and surprise as their leader had just been killed. They looked at Darjeeling in fear and back to Earl Grey once more who opened her mouth.

*bang*

Another shot rang from the Webley as she fell face down over the table a huge gaping hole in what used to be the older girls back of her head. 

Darjeeling got up from her seat as the girls broke out into begging or yelling. She began walking out of the room before stopping at the door and turning around she looked at the agents and nodded her head. 

The rapid firing gunshots filled the room as the rest of the girls were torn into Swiss cheese by the hail of lead. The room itself looked like a mobsters ambush, Earl Grey's head was flat on the table two gunshots into her as the other girls were either on the table filled with bullets, had fallen out of their chair in panic or had simply slouched into their chair as they were filled up with an amount of lead that was incredibly unhealthy for the girls.   
————————————————————————  
Word ledger

Emerald Isle: a nickname for the island of Ireland 

Silent night: a song made by a German composer and was a song in ww1 during the 1914 Christmas truce. It is also a religious song although that had no impact on its inclusion into the story.

Typewriter: a machine used to write up messages in the older days before computers became a thing. 

Stuart: American Light tank most commonly used for scouting 

Battle of Cannae: a battle between the Romans and Hannibal's army where Hannibal absolutely crushed the Romans. 

Battle of Vienna: famous for the winged hussars that chased the ottomans away 

Battle of the Bulge: considered to be the first major American land engagement after the Germans launched a surprise attack.

Operation desert storm: American operation to invade Iraq

Valentine MkIII: one of the most produced British tanks and considered to be fairly successful against German tanks.

GI6: meaning Gloriana intelligence 

Thompson: a famous American submachine-gun that was used by the mafia a lot and proved its capabilities during World War Two. It is a rapid-firing gun that can hold 20 bullets or 50 bullets depending on what magazine is used although most military units were equipped with the 20 round one.

Webley: a British standard officers revolver that has six shots and packs quite a punch.

I'm sorry for the late chapter I stayed up all night to get this out as quickly as possible. I hope you enjoyed this chapter even if it's shorter than the usual chapter. I would appreciate some feedback as usual. 

I also wanted to announce that I'll be doing a Q&A for next chapter. Ask a question and I'll answer it in the next chapter. I also wanted to thank everyone for all the support you showed from my Authors Note. Some good news for those who are interested, I did really well on my mid-terms (A+) and should have plenty of time this week to have both a oneshot and a chapter out. 

I hope everybody enjoyed the story and please let me know what your thoughts are on this chapter. I have one question for all my readers though, should I make a discord server for the readers? 

Question from Lorenzo: I don’t believe I will be making a book that is a Harry Potter and Girl und panzer crossover just because I don’t believe I will have the time for it in the next few years (this book will be taking most of that time)

Question from Cooldude: the idea of having minor nations with spy networks is intriguing and I’ll certainly keep it in mind.  
(Both questions are from fanfiction.net)

Signed Irishluck ☘️   
2020/03/26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the late chapter I stayed up all night to get this out as quickly as possible. I hope you enjoyed this chapter even if it's shorter than the usual chapter. I would appreciate some feedback as usual. 
> 
> I also wanted to announce that I'll be doing a Q&A for next chapter. Ask a question and I'll answer it in the next chapter. I also wanted to thank everyone for all the support you showed from my Authors Note. Some good news for those who are interested, I did really well on my mid-terms (A+) and should have plenty of time this week to have both a oneshot and a chapter out. 
> 
> I hope everybody enjoyed the story and please let me know what your thoughts are on this chapter. I have one question for all my readers though, should I make a discord server for the readers? 
> 
> Question from Lorenzo: I don’t believe I will be making a book that is a Harry Potter and Girl und panzer crossover just because I don’t believe I will have the time for it in the next few years (this book will be taking most of that time)
> 
> Question from Cooldude: the idea of having minor nations with spy networks is intriguing and I’ll certainly keep it in mind.  
> (Both questions are from fanfiction.net)
> 
> Signed Irishluck ☘️   
> 2020/03/26


	13. Chapter 12 Time and Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter before things begins to pick up once more. Mostly filler chapter.

Discord Server for the book which allows me to communicate effectively with you guys: https://discord.gg/TtSr5x7uZm <\--- this is the link. Hope to see you their (I will also ask questions to the community there)

Near Little Vienna  
Anne  
April 27

Anne stared at the girls before her all dressed in their Bonple uniforms, each unit carrying their flag, all lined up perfectly a golden medal adorning their chest the same for all the girls present who had given their all in the defence of their nation and ready to fight to take it back.

Anne had to give Miho some credit, the medals as well as the treatment that her soldiers had received had installed a sense of belonging and loyalty to Ooarai. It had done a great deal to ease the tension's between the Ooarai soldiers and the Bonple soldiers.

Now here her girls stood backs straight, head held high and hands straight to the side of their body. Today was the day where they're training would be completed or at least the initial training.

Anne's eyes shined with pride as her eyes glanced up and down the rows of the girls the proud Bonple legion flag flying. From the pilots to the infantry to the tankers, each girl stood there as the trainer on the podium next to her finished his little speech to the cheering of the girls.

Silence quickly returned as Anne walked up to the podium, she felt a sense of nervousness like no other. Never had she given a speech to around 150,000 people, gripping the side of the podium to steady her nerves.

"Today is a historical day for all of Bonple. Starting as of today we begin our long crusade to take back Bonple. Alongside Ooarai we shall drive the enemies from our homeland, this will not be an easy or quick task. No, I expect this to be a long harsh road with obstacles blocking every step of the way," Anne spoke passionately the lack of elegance and professionalism was overshadowed by her passion which enrapt the girls standing in front of her.

"But I believe in you girls, I believe that with the combined strength of Ooarai and Bonple, with the determination and will of Bonple that we shall be victorious be it in a year from now, two years or even 5 years later. I believe we shall reign victorious!" She finished her speech to the clapping and cheering of her troops.

Walking off she almost laughed at herself when she realized that Miho had also gained her loyalty not that she minded.

————————————————————————  
Little London  
Darjeeling  
April 30

Darjeeling looked at the rotary phone on her desk as she looked at the notes in front of her desk, she had agreed to have a meeting with the leaders of Maple and Koala in Little Canada to discuss the war. She was hoping to have a meeting with Kay to discuss some trade deals between their countries as well as hopefully having a simple talk between friends.

She looked down at her notes, her Webley revolver acting as a paperweight at the corner of her papers. The notes could be more described as folders as they described what had happened on that fateful meeting. It still pained her to see Earl Grey's corpse as well as all the other girls that had been in the room, even if they had been less than friendly with her during these past months.

She knew that in all cases and scenarios she had just killed democracy for the Commonwealth and for St-Gloriana, it pained her to do so she believed in democracy or at least used to believe in it but it had been blocking her from properly preparing St-Gloriana and the Commonwealth from effectively fighting.

She picked up the phone as she began to dial Kay's phone, her inner turmoil over her path to becoming the queen of St-Gloriana and her belief of a person having a voice being set aside. She needed to concentrate on this meeting.

The phone rang a few times before she heard the phone being picked up.

"Darjeeling! It's been to long since we've last talked eh" Kay's energetic voice could be heard from the phone although there was a level of stress and strain that hadn't been there previously.

"It has been a while hasn't it Kay, I was going to be in Little Canada next week and was wondering if you had time to set up a meeting, for both political purposes and simply to talk as friends." Her voice had hints of the elegance and eloquently that was normal for her although a heavyweight of sadness had managed to slip through.

"I should be free Darjeeling, I don't see any problem with it. Has something happened... could you even tell me about it? " Kay asked her voice softening

"I... I can't tell you as much as I wish I could." Darjeeling hesitated

"I had guessed as much" Kay's voice had fallen a bit

" How's the war situation?" Kay continued

"Could be better, we've had some dissenters to take care and it has been excruciatingly boring with how little action has been happening on the front. The only action has been at sea, even the air has quieted down. I believe the analogy of the Phoney war that one of the newspapers had in its headline is very apt."

"It is fairly accurate up to this point, isn't it. I'm gonna have to go Darjeeling, I'll see you next week okay?"

"Yes, I'll see you then Kay. The responsibilities of a leader are a strenuous one isn't it."

————————————————————————  
Little Milan, meeting room  
Miho  
May 2

Miho was standing at the table her uniform had a new medal that had been spread around the army for all that had participated in the Invasion of Bonple. It was a silver medal with the helmet of a soldier being golden, a white and black ribbon accompanied the medal.

Anchovy was standing next to her, her traditional cape on her shoulders with the rest of her appearance being the same as always, the only difference was a medal adorning her chest, it was a silver medal with the colosseum in the center and a black ribbon on it. Her arms were folded each other one hand holding the crop as her eye's stared at the map on the table.

There were 8 girls around the table each one being a general. There was Amaryllis who had already gotten her nickname as Death's Devil, she had her already iconic uniform on her with the addition of the Invasion of Bonple medal, She was studying the map before her. Next was Erwin her field cap with goggles on her head, her hair in its classic desert fox style and wearing her uniform with the medal pinned to her breast. Anzu was the final Ooarai general present, a rather relaxed version of the uniform with the medal pinned to it and a bag of dried sweet potatoes in her hand, silently munching on it as she studied the map before her.

The three Anzio girls were Carpaccio with a slightly modified Invasion of Bonple medal attached to her breast (it simply had the colours of Anzio filling out the helmet). Carpaccio had her blue beret on her head and had decided to not wear her jacket and simply wear her white dressed shirt, the rest of her uniform was the same as Anzio's uniform. The next girl was a young girl with dark black hair that reached her shoulders, she was a small girl being the height of a first-year when she was actually in her third year, her uniform differed from the Anzio in colour a light blue-grey with the white undershirt and stockings. The girl was named Francesca and she was Anzio's best pilot and an ace. Finally, their was an older girl named Yuki who was in her third year with short choppy brown hair and an aura of seriousness around her, she wore Anzio's light grey-green infantry uniform. She was staring at the map chewing on her bottom lip subconsciously. Her face seemed rough compared to the others and she held her head high and back straight as she sat in her chair.

There were two extra girls at this meeting the co-leaders of the ICI (Imperial Center of Intelligence). While the girl from Anzio was properly dressed and held a briefcase in her hand and had long red hair that was curled. The girl from Ooarai had short brown hair that stops at her shoulders and was also dressed in the Ooarai uniform and looked professional. Both girls were wearing a poker face and had no emotion in their eyes. 

"Welcome, I hope you have all read the files we gave you?" Miho asked in a soft voice wrapped in authority.

All the girls except for Anchovy that was standing next to her nodded. Miho looked at the map and continued talking.

"Well then you must know the general plan for this operation but we'll go over it once more in case you have any questions.

This operation will be known as Operation Alpino and any sub-operations will have some variant of the name. This operation call's for a combined push between the Anzio army and the Ooarai army stationed in Little Piedmont, Little Italia and a minor push in the north by Anzio in Little Switzerland."

Anchovy picked up from where Miho stopped " The push will be against the Maginot armies, which means we can expect a stiff defence from them, but this will also be a very classic defence as Maginot prefers the true and tested compared to experimenting.

This operation also takes place in the Little Alpines, which means mountain fighting and small rural roads are what you can expect on the battlefield. The infantry," Anchovy gave a pointed look towards both of the infantry generals before continuing, "will be the focus of these operations with the tanks being mostly relegated to support roles as there won't be enough room for classic tank tactics. The plan is to drive the Maginot forces back as far as 100 km at some parts of the front and as short as 50 km on some other parts. "

Miho finished off "The plan is to be enacted May 26 after Anzio declared war, the plan is to quickly drive the enemy out of the mountains before they can properly defend this section of this front.". Turning to the two Intelligence officers Miho asked " Is there any information we have on the strength of the enemy defences?"

"We know that there about two armies worth of men defending this part of the frontline which means an proximity 600-800 thousand girls in the area." the Anzio Intelligence officer responded

"As for their defences, are spies have confirmed a defence in depth tactic with multiple layers of trenches and barbed wire as well as concrete bunkers and even some stationary artillery turrets which is very well armoured. We can also confirm tunnels inside the mountains and even caves being used as natural bases for the Maginot forces. Reports indicate though that once we break this line they do not have another defensive line." the Ooarai officer responded.

"Thank you, what do you girls think of this operation so far?" Anchovy asked the girls around the table.

"It seems like we will need a lot of heavy artillery in place if we want this to succeed," Yuki mentioned

"I would recommend having the push emphasis a more cautious and slow approach as a fast and rapid advance could prove detrimental to our supply lines" Anzu brought up

" A nighttime attack could give the infantry the edge they need to get into the enemy trenches" offered Amaryllis

"I agree with Amaryllis" Yuki supported

Miho grabbed a pen and notebook as she began writing it down and Anchovy responded

"all good suggestions, although we need to move quickly in these mountains to be able to capture the critical crossroads which will allow us to supply our forces properly," Anchovy mentioned

"Perhaps we should station more tanks in the south where the hills and mountains are less tall and the roads are more numerous. It would allow them to break through more easily." Erwin mentioned

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea." Miho complimented

"We should bomb the Airfields, it would let us get rid of their planes in one go" Francesca excitedly said

"perhaps the Ooarai tanks should be in the south where it suits them better, while the Anzio tanks remain in the mountains where the CV33 and our other tanks are more suited to mountain warfare." Carpaccio mentioned 

"How about we have our spies infiltrate the enemy lines and cause some chaos and confusion on the day of the attack?" mentioned one of the Intelligence officers

Miho looked at them for a few seconds causing them to fidget for a few seconds before she said

"What a brilliant idea!" 

The meeting continued for some time as alterations to the plan were made to perfect it as well as preparing for any possible problems.

————————————————————————  
Little Ottowa, Little Canada  
Darjeeling  
May 5

Darjeeling was waiting at a cafe for Kay to show up, she had just finished her two-day long meeting with the Koala and Maple leaders to talk about the war. It had been decided that they would need more Maple forces in Little Europe to help with the war effort, she had been promised that the maple forces would be there in a year's time. Meanwhile, she had been happy with the news of Koala taking appropriate measures to set up defensive positions on the nearby islands as well as sending some more supplies to Little Egypt. As for her own plans, she had already begun moving some of her navies into the Little Meditarean and had begun preparations for war with Anzio.

Darjeeling was shaken out of her thoughts by Kay's loud and energetic voice "Hey! Darjeeling how nice to see you in person again."

" It is nice to see you in person Kay."

Darjeeling brought her teacup down on the small table in front of her as she got up only to stumble backwards as Kay collided into her wrapping her arms around her. She wrapped her arms around her friend as she let out a smile, something that has been quite rare in these trying times.

They released each other and sat back down, a waitress stopped by their table and took Kay's order.

"You know sometimes I feel like your stomach is a black hole," Darjeeling commented some mirth in her eyes

"What, I'm hungry" Kay responded hands in the air and trying to look innocent

"Which is why you needed a sandwich some coffee and a dessert" Darjeeling raised a single eyebrow in question.

"Sue me" Kay stuck out her tongue in defiance

"So anything interesting happening in the U.S.A other than you becoming the president?" Darjeeling questioned

"Hmmm, no not much has been happening other than politics. Since I wasn't voted in I don't have too many powers at the moment. How about the Commonwealth how is that going on"

A brief flash of sadness washed over Darjeeling before she clamped down on it, she still didn't like what she had to pull on Earl Grey.

"The war is going well, your supply ships have been very useful and appreciated. You have to understand that I can't say too much but we have started training the Bonple girls who had escaped."

"This has been very different from what I expected." Kay smiled gesturing to the surroundings

"Hmm what do you- Oh you mean the VR. Yeah, I almost forget sometimes that I'm in a VR machine. It just feels so realistic." Darjeeling mentioned

"Yes, I know what you mean. It's frighteningly realistic, I hope it doesn't have any real consequences in the real world though." Kay's voice dropped a bit at the end of her phrase.

"Of course it wouldn't. Otherwise, they wouldn't have allowed high school students to be involved." Darjeeling pointed out

"How about Pekoe and Assam how are they doing?" Kay prodded

"Pekoe has been taking care of most of my administrative needs as well as having refused commanding an army as according to her she would rather remain by my side. As for Assam, she has been given command of an army. How about Alisa and Naomi?" Darjeeling relaxed as the conversation took a more casual turn.

"Naomi has been well, she has dedicated at training her troops. She seems to have taken the spot of commander well. As for Alisa, well other than being allowed to thrive with her more cunning side since there are very little rules in this. She's also taken to training with a surprising seriousness and motivation."

The conversation continued as both girls continued talking relishing in the normalcy of simply talking together without having to carry the weight of their country on their back.  
————————————————————————

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I know this chapters two days late and it's shorter than usual. For it being later, well I don't have any excuse and for the shortness of the chapter it's mostly that I couldn't come up with any good ideas to include in and so I decided to have this chapter be a bit more of a filler chapter that promises more to come.
> 
> I do hope you guys enjoyed this and please send me some feedback I appreciate any and all feedback. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will post a one-shot tomorrow and will post another chapter this weekend (hopefully won't miss it this time).
> 
> I hope you guy's had a fun Halloween, I'll see you guys tomorrow with the one-shot.
> 
> Signed Irishluck☘  
> 2020/11/03


	14. Chapter 13: Unrestful Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter before the war starts up again, hope you guys enjoy it.

Border of Little Spain and Little France  
El  
May 12

El watched over the girls clad in light blue uniforms as they worked on their defensives. They had been tasked by the Duce with setting up proper defensive positions in the Little Pyrennees. They both knew that the Blue forces did not have very strong offensive capabilities since most of their armour consisted of Panzer II and Panzer I with a few Panzer III.

El had also noticed a surge in willingness, determination and loyalty toward the Anzio Empire after the failed Assassination and coup d'etat in Little Rome. There had even been a rumour that had spread amongst the troops talking about how Maginot had funded the rebellion. She hadn't commented on the rumour as it simply solidified their willingness to fight against Maginot.

She directed a few girls with shovels to go dig a small trench to stick their anti-tank into. She couldn't help but feel apprehension about what was gonna come in two weeks. She had heard the stories about the Invasion of Bonple and had seen the casualties for their own side which had still numbered in the thousands and it was supposed to be an operation that did better than expected.

She was scared for her girls, her innocent girls who were excited about the adventure to come. She could only pray to whatever god existed out there to protect them as much as possible.

————————————————————————  
Near Little Lemberg  
Anne  
May 13

Anne opened the door of the car and stepped out of it, the army had been sent ahead of her as she had to stop at a meeting with both the Count and Yogurt Commanders so they could better coordinate their forces and how they were currently set up.

She had been designated with arguably both the easiest and hardest area to defend, a stretch of 210km of Bonple land (currently under Ooarai Empire control). The land was relatively flat mostly covered with farming fields and plenty of small villages scattered throughout the countryside. They had plenty of patches of forests and a large city just 30 km away from the frontline.

Walking through the makeshift base she watched as the girls currently in the base were solidifying its defences. Grabbing a set of binoculars she watched the troops around 5km away digging building bunkers, setting barbed wire and expanding the trenches that had been there already.

The plan was a fairly simple one, with flat farmlands being the majority of the land they were defending she hoped to create a layered defensive line, with every broken trench line there would be a second one better defended with more artillery and tanks helping. She was hoping that this would great such enormous losses for the enemy that they would simply focus on trying to breakthrough somewhere else. She also was planning on requesting for mines to create a deadly minefield in front of the trenches.

She wished she could have chosen some better terrain to set her forces as the farmlands didn't give her an advantage. She had to hope that the defensive positions and the desire to defend one's homeland would be enough.

Looking around the small base she was at she studied it once more, there were some munition caches, a circle of trenches and sandbags on the perimeter. The base itself was set up on a small hill, one of the few hills in the surrounding areas. Only tents had been set up so far and there were a few campfires.

Anne sighed as she walked over to the designated commander's tent, finding a table and a map as well as a few other devices necessary for commanding. She studied the map as if it would contain the key to give her soldiers an advantage against the inevitable Pravda forces, she knew this would be like the siege of Little Danzig which meant gruesome and ruthless.

————————————————————————  
Little Atlantic Ocean  
Hayami  
May 15

Hayami had been at sea for over two weeks now, she had been cramped inside her submarine with her entire crew. They had been searching for the Saunder ships and Maple ships that were sailing towards Little Britannia. So far they had little to no luck having only stumbled upon one ship and had sunk it.

She searched with the periscope for enemy ships when she found two ships following each other. She grabbed her notebook which contained most of the shipping models that could be found in the Commonwealth navy.

Finding the ship she grimaced as she saw that it had a few guns on board which could hurt her submarine if they would surface. The job was much simpler when she didn't need to worry about enemy guns, she could just surface and shoot at them with the deck gun in till it sank.

"Get the torpedo tubes 1 and 2 ready" she called out hearing the order being echoed up and down the submarine

Most people thought submarines could simply shoot torpedoes at will, only needing to reload it after each shot but the process itself was much more complicated and long that most people knew. They first needed to heat up the torpedo then they needed to flood the tube before finally shooting it at the enemy boat.

Her well-drilled crew quickly began the process and a few minutes later, just enough to allow her to calculate the speed and distance of the enemy boats, she ordered the launch of tube one followed a few seconds later by a launching tube two.

Grabbing a pocket watch she began timing the torpedoes at this distance if the torpedoes didn't hit in 50 seconds she could assume that she had missed.

The soft ticking of the watch filled up the silence in the normally loud and bustling submarine. Everyone watched with bated breath as the time ticked by before a muted boom suddenly could be heard in the distance.

Hayami smirked as she watched through her periscope as the middle of one of the ships lifted into the air slightly pulling both the front and back part of the ship slightly before crashing back down a visible crack could be seen in the middle as the ship began to rapidly sink.

A few seconds later and another explosion could be seen as the back half of the ship was engulfed in a fiery inferno that began consuming the ships and even illuminating the sailors on deck as some of the more desperate sailors jumped of the side of the ship.

She ordered the ship to surface as she watched the O2 meter slowly dipping lower and lower. They had been forced underwater earlier due to a plane flying overhead. It had forced them to use some precious oxygen in an attempt to hide from it.

The submarine broke through the water, a silent predator of the ocean as two ships further away slowly sank their sailors doomed to a watery grave.

————————————————————————  
Little Turin, Little Italia  
Miho  
May 18

Miho sat and watched as she sipped her drink and brought some of the best pasta she had ever had into her mouth and began chewing. She watched with amusement as some of her girls including her crew played in the park nearby, these childish moments had become even more important after the invasion of Bonple, for everyone. She watched as the Ooarai army acted more like a family, a weird family for sure, but a family none the less.

Midoriko was off to the site with her so-called Morals Company talking with each other. At another table, the Rabbit team was surrounded by other first years, they had become popular with the younger girls thanks to their performance during the Bonple Invasion. A medal pinned to each of their chests of which they were quite proud of.

The other teams were currently enjoying their time in other locations, well except for the turtle team which was at the table next to her discussing the two different Ooarai armies currently being trained and the Bonple Legion which had now been stationed on the Pravda border.

The only other girl that was sitting alone was Amaryllis who was a few tables away eating her own spaghetti. She was an interesting girl, both being caring and cruel, sweet and wicked as well as above all else being quite mysterious. Miho had pinned her personality down a month ago but she knew for the rest of the army she remained this mysterious charismatic leader that always looked as if the reaper was hanging over her shoulder with her pale skin.

A feeling welled up inside of Miho as she watched the girls run through the park playing some game they had come up with. Perhaps Miho mused this was what being a mother felt like. Her cheeks heated up at the thought of having children but she couldn't argue with herself that it was probably the closest description to how she felt for her troops.

It was her duty to keep them protected and safe just like it was a mother's duty to keep their children protected and safe. She winced slightly at the thought that in a little more than a week she would be sending some of them to their deaths. Unable to see them running around and playing around.

She wondered how the spies she had sent into Little Sardinia were doing, in reality, she could probably say that all the girls under the Ooarai Empire she considered as her children. That was the burden of being the leader of a nation.

She sipped her drink once more as she shook her melancholy thoughts and tried to ignore the gripping feeling in her heart and the gut-wrenching feeling telling her to enjoy this time as it would be a long time in till she would be able to see this again. She nervously fingered the gun in her holster, how she hated this unrestful rest, this burden of command.

————————————————————————  
Little Turin, Little Italia  
Noriko  
May 23

Noriko laughed as she jumped into the air hitting the volleyball back into the other court. The game had been going on for a dozen minutes now as it flew back in forth. Seconds felt like minutes and minutes like hours before the ball touched the sand on the other side. A wave of relief flowed through her at the victory.

She looked back down and found Shinobu raising in the air abruptly hugging her while exclaiming in excitement. Sounds began to fade and everything became a bit dizzy as the world began to spin, first slowly before picking up speed and everything slowly faded to black. Noriko didn't realize the small gasp she had let out or the quiet scream afterwards.

Noriko stared around widely she was back in Bonple, near Little Warsaw. She remembered this day vibrantly, how could she not when she had almost died that day. She saw herself riding her tank forward, she had tried to copy Miho and tried to keep her head out of the commander's hatch as she commanded her unit.

The Panzer II F that she was in sped past her as the cannon blared out towards an insignificant defensive line when an explosion landed next to the tank raising the right side of the tank into the air before crashing back down this time on its side.

Noriko had been launched out of the tank and into the ground, dazed and confused she stumbled around before collapsing as a bullet barely grazed her arm. She crawled a few inches forward before a shell landed next to her digging into the dirt and just staying there. She remembered the fear that had clutched her body in a deathly grip as she ran forward toward her own tank where the other girls were knocked out.

Suddenly she was pulled from her memory, she felt more sweat than before pouring from her forehead as the rest of the volleyball club gathered around her in worry she gasped in a few big gulps of air her eyes franticly moving left in right in search of danger before calming down. This was gonna be annoying to explain she thought to herself.

————————————————————————

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this chapter isn't adequate, I'm not too happy with this chapter and how it came out and at the same time I understand that since this is the last chapter in the small break from war in the last two months (in the book) that there wasn't much I could include. I also had a small amount of writer's block.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed it even with how short it is (feel like a bit of a scam for making it so short). Please leave a comment/review on what you thought of this chapter (or the book so far) they really brighten my day and I'm so thankful for those of you who have already done so.
> 
> I saw that there were some problems with reaching the Discord server. If you had any problems with joining the server that will be dedicated to this book there are two ways to join.
> 
> 1: Friend my account: Irishluck#8194
> 
> 2: Open this link through discord or send the link to someone (this will make the invitation pop up in said messages.). https://discord.gg/TtSr5x7uZm
> 
> If you have any problems let me know.
> 
> Signed Irishluck☘
> 
> 2020/11/08


	15. Invasion of the Broken Mountains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like this chapter, it only covers one day as I wanted to cover each front. The north, center and south fronts equally. Although I ran out of idea's for a satisfying battle for the Centre forces that wouldn't give the game awat just yet. Next chapter will finish this week off and invovled the Confederation to making their countermoves.
> 
> Let me know what you guy's thought of this chapters and let me know if you want me to post the battle plans for invasion. I'm sorry if some of this chapter seems of lower quality then usual but I spent an all nighter making this as I didn't have time otherwise. I will be doing a proper revision of this tomorrow as well as revising Anchovies battle so that may be up to change. I really wanted to post this though before sleep claimed me. I might also create a few battle maps for discord.
> 
> Anyway's thanks for reading and commenting on the server and I hope to see you guys on the Discord server (I'll host something there soon).
> 
> Signed Irishluck☘️  
> 2020/11/15

Little Geneva, Little Switzerland *border of Confederation and Anzio  
Carpaccio  
May 26

Carpaccio was in her *M13/40 tank, she had her binoculars up to her eyes as she scanned the horizon. The enemy defensive lines were around 2 km into enemy territory. She was in command of the North Army also designated as Carpaccio Army or C army for short. She was tasked with conducting supporting attacks in the north to alleviate what had become known as the Little Geneva bulge, the goal was to drive southwest and drive the Maginot armies out of the north of the Little Alpines as quickly as possible. There were two main columns to accomplish these goals, the first column was the one she was commanding directly in Little Geneva that had to strike deep into plateau's, villages, hills, mountains and little to no infrastructure. The second column was further east and was tasked with a general push into the mountains to connect with them in the future and secure the Duce's Armies flank. 

Overlooking the defences just a kilometre away she had to grimace slightly at the defensive position they had chosen to utilize to defend the main road in the area. It wasn't impenetrable as she already began running through possibilities for her elite soldiers to push through. The problem is that like Maginot's army most of her forces were green with only around 50,000 girls being veterans from the Bonple campaign. 

The defences themselves were set up on a tall plateau that had a small valley beforehand only 50 meters wide with a river running through it. The plateau was around 600 meters steep and the defences that lay on top of said Plateau consisted of trenches, bunkers and dug-in tank positions as well as plenty of field artillery and anti-tank guns. She could only assume that there was some artillery behind them too. There was a stretch of land to the right that would prove easier to assault if it wasn't for the mountain that according to some spies was filled with enough artillery to make a push too costly. The left side which was more vulnerable was going to be taken care of by her two other infantry companies consisting of some elite troops and some green troops. The terrain over there would certainly be easier to assault with more plains and rolling hills and less deadly positions except for the far left mountain that they weren't planning on assaulting anyway's. 

Carpaccio had settled on what was the only option which was a full-on assault on the steep plateau with artillery support and some limited air support. She hoped that the *L3/35 tankettes would be able to suppress the enemy enough while her M13/40 tanks would break through the enemy. 

Climbing into her tank she began issuing the orders for the brutal battle ahead on her radio. 

"Artillery companies begin bombardment of zone 225, 1673. Fire for effect. I repeat begin bombardment of zone 225, 1673. Fire for effect. " 

The radio was silent with its soft crackling for a few seconds before a loud girl's voice was heard. 

"Copy that, firing for effect on zone 225, 1673" 

"All tank companies containing M13/40 form up into V formations we shall be striking the plateau 2 km away. The infantry shall be moving up along with us, L3/35 support the infantry against machinegun positions. We need to strike hard and true for the Duce!" 

A chorus of for the Duce came through the radio as suddenly the tanks that had stopped at the top of the hill 2km away from the enemy after having captured their first small village. The sight was impressive for the green-eyed blonde as she watched the tanks which had been idling by suddenly startup with their familiar roar and begin moving out at a steady pace, forming up as they went. With the tanks, the infantry which had been marching in columns suddenly spread out ready for battle and began marching behind the tanks. 

"Driver forwards" was all Carpaccio had to say before her tank lurched forward. 

Only a few minutes later after the small tanks and the infantry had begun mixing together did she hear a whistling with which she was getting more and more familiar. In the distance, she observed with morbid fascination as explosions could be seen throwing dirt all over the area. 

"Look at our artillery girls, taking all the action from us. Will we allow them to claim all of the glory for the Duce today!" she punctuates her small rousing speech with a yell 

"No Carpaccio!" was the response she received inciting a small smile on her face. 

The Anzio troops had gained a fanatical loyalty for their Duce after the failed Coup D'etat that had occurred two months ago. If ordered they would willingly charge a bunker. 

————————————————————————  
They were only a little under a Km away from the enemy as Carpaccio had been inciting her troops into a small frenzy eager for battle and to show the Maginot girl's why they were veterans from the Bonple invasion.

They had watched as their artillery pounded away at the enemy fortifications. They closed even closer to enemy lines only 700 meters away from the enemy trenches. Perhaps they would simply walk over the Maginot forces which most likely didn't expect an invasion today. She threw that thought out the window, if the Bonple campaign had shown anything was that soldiers never rolled over and let themselves get trampled. 

"Artillery Companies seize bombardment" she ordered, she had no wish for accidental friendly casualties. 

Sliding into her tank she closed the hatch above her, unlike Miho she wasn't suicidal enough to go into battle with half her torso outside her tank. How that girl survived each battle with no injuries was pure divine intervention or a ridiculous amount of luck, she briefly mused over whether the girl had any Irish blood in her before shaking her head and focusing on the battle ahead. 

"All forces begin the full assault. For Anzio! For the DUCE!" she yelled into her radio. 

Suddenly the close to 1,000 tanks picked up speed and 14,000 infantry began running forward in a sprint. The other members of her division had taken positions on the flanks to keep the other parts of the defences occupied. 

The dust of dirt that had obscured the 800-meter long defence line that they would be assaulting slowly lifted to reveal a rather minimal amount of damage. Cursing slightly Carpaccio had hoped that the one-hour bombardment would have dealt more damage. Most of the bunkers were still standing and almost no tanks were knocked out, thankfully it seemed that quite a few anti-tank installations had been destroyed. 

Her gunner was one of the first to fire before the battle kicked off. The shell slammed just a few meters shy of a bunker as suddenly tracers filled the sky from machinegun's on both sides with the M13/40 concentrating on taking out tanks and bunkers while the L3/35 with their smaller stature and machinegun armaments focused on shooting at the trenches and exposed enemy machineguns. 

The infantry had thrown themselves onto the dirt as soon as the shots began flying, they crawled and the brave groups ran small bursts of distance forward while being crouched. A sudden whistling informed Carpaccio that Maginot artillery had begun firing at them. The first explosion rocked her tank and threw some dirt on it as she directed her gunner towards another tank. 

The gun kicked back and the shell sailed true as it crashed into the bunker ripping it into pieces and most certainly killing anybody unfortunate enough to be inside. The shell's landing around them did nothing to stunt their attack as they inched forward. The tanks stopping every time they took a shot and the infantry rotating from firing back at the enemy to moving forward either through crawling or running forward. 

She grimaced as she took a quick look around and found some of her loyal troops laying dead on the ground. A wave of enemy tank shells flew towards them again, although that had been ineffective at the beginning of the battle the closer each side tanks got the deadlier the closer they became to each other. 

Another grimace marred Carpaccio's gentle features as she watched a few dozen of her tanks suddenly stop moving or going up in blazes. The constant pinging sound of machinegun and rifle fire which would have annoyed her just a few short months ago was now nothing but background noise as she concentrated on the battle before her. 

"Where's the Regia Aeronautica" she muttered to herself, they were supposed to be here half an hour ago!

They had reached 400 meters from the valley as the gun kicked back once more and another bunker was destroyed. She glanced at the enemy lines and tried to discern how much damage the enemy had taken so far. Certainly less than them but hopefully it would allow them to cross the valley. 

"All M13 tanks stop before the valley and concentrate on the enemy forces, cover the infantry and L3's as they cross the valley." She ordered through her mic

She glanced to her left and peered almost 300 meters away to the left flank to see the advance starting to stall a bit as Maginot artillery and machinegun's had been more accurate. 

"Left Flank continue the advance. Only 300 meters left to go. For the Duce!" She ordered them, sprinkling a small white lie about the distance left for them to cover. 

A sudden war cry emerged from the left flank which rejuvenated them and they surged forward once more. The war cry spread throughout the troops and soon the entire frontline spanning 800 meters was screaming to the top of their lungs in a show of loyalty to their Duce as they all surged forward. 

The battle had been going on for an hour already and they had just reached the valley, her tank was stopped and shooting at the enemy in a consistent quick barrage of enemy troops. The infantry had just arrived at the valley when she heard the noise, a small whirring being drowned out by the sounds of battles from the shells that had been periodically falling on top of their heads and the constant sound of gunfire and explosions. It slowly grew louder vibrating through her chest in a steady whirring or maybe it was a writing sound that pounded itself into her heart as a drum would. 

A glance and she smiled, a bit late but better than never she thought to herself as she saw the row's of planes from Regia Airnautica begin arriving. The relatively invulnerable tanks that were the early world war two french tanks had suddenly become easy picking in their static positions for the airforce that began sweeping in dropping bomb after bomb on to their locations. 

The cheering from the troops let her know that the fragile morale had been solidified by this site and she saw her troops surge forward in newfound confidence into the valley the L3s following close behind. 

Although the planes were a welcome sight at such a critical point in the battle it seemed to have only solidified the Maginot soldiers into fighting harder as more tanks were taken out and even the tankettes that were the L3 began taking some serious casualties. 

The machinegun in the M13 was being forced into stopping their fire not from lack of ammo but from overheating as the barrels became red hot. The M13 continued their barrage from the top of the valley covering the infantry that had just begun the precarious climb that was the 600-meter steep hill. The L3s led the charge forward reaching the top first and started to truly shine as they shot into the trenches clearing large swathes of soldiers with their two machineguns and allowing the infantry to jump into the trenches. 

The planes had finished dropping their bombs and began flying back to base as Carpaccio ordered her M13 into the valley. The machine gunner and the gunner were both first-years who had started as eager and naive girls. Hardened through the Bonple campaign Carpaccio had begun thinking of them as true comrades in arms. 

The M13 dipped into the valley and started crossing the perilous valley, the ride down was bumpy quick and rough as her driver dodges large rocks. The tank was suddenly slowed massively as they hit the small ravine that was only just a few meters wide. The climb up the hill was atrocious as the girls slowly moved up the hill and crested it. Multiple tanks had been hit on the way up. 

Carpaccio regained her bearings as she looked around and saw the close combat of trench warfare, not for the first time, tanks and bodies were littered everywhere as the Anzio troops slowly overran each still standing bunker and trenches still held by the Maginot troops. The Maginot tanks had begun pulling out of their little dugouts and began reversing as quickly as possible out of the situation they found themselves in. 

Ordering her tank forward she stopped herself on the side of one such tank that was trying to reverse out of one of the tank ditches. The tank's barrel lowered itself on what she recognized as an *AMC 35 tank and fired into its side piercing its side and stopping the tank dead in its tracks. An extra shot was fired into it just to confirm its dead and her tank began moving forward over the third trench line currently being fought over when she found herself staring at one of the few Char B1 tanks still left standing aiming towards her tank. 

A small curse was all that left her mouth before the tank shook violently, Carpaccio banged her head on the side of the hatch barely registering the pain. She felt a wave of nausea come over her as she realized she was covered in the vaporized remains of Focaccia her trusted radio operator and the girl she had played Senshado with since the first year. 

A quick glance and a small sniff confirmed her worst fears as she disregarded the remains of her friend which was now just a mangled pair of legs and unrecognizable limbs. The smell of smoke and the fire creeping towards them scared her half to death as she pushed the hatch open and scrambled out. 

She hit the side of the tank before rolling off and hitting the dirt just inches away from the six feet deep trench. A glance at the tank and she saw the first year clamber out of the hatch as well only to be halfway out and get riddled with a spray of bullets. A scream out of her mouth was all that was needed to spur Carpaccio on as she got up grabbed the young girl and pulled her down. 

Her wounds didn't seem critical but she still dragged her into the trench to find an Anzio soldier currently in a melee fight with a Maginot girl. Pulling her pistol out while dragging the first year into the safety of the trench her pistol shot twice, her wobbly aim and frazzled nerves didn't kill the enemy but the stab from the Anzio soldier certainly did. 

A flop and a groan from behind her made her whirl around she saw her driver groaning in pain as she felt almost 10 feet from the tank directly into the trench. A banging from the tank informed her of her machinegunner trying to get out. 

"It's jammed!" was her cry. 

"Use Focaccia's exit" she yelled back

"The fire's covering it" her machinegunner began sobbing 

Climbing up the tank she began togging on the hatch that was stuck when she heard her Machine gunner cry out. 

"It was an honour to serve with you Carpaccio... Please avenge us" A scream and "it burns" followed the scream.

Not wanting to give up hope she tugged harder on the ever-warming metal when she heard a sizzling sound and her self-preservation skills overtook her and she dropped into the trench and yelled out "Take Cover!" 

The explosion above her and the scream that was brutally cut short shook her to her core as she bit back a sob. She'd have every enemy of Anzio pay for every death two-fold. Maginot and any enemy of Anzio would pay for killing her soldiers. A smouldering rage brewed within her as a radio operator suddenly popped around the trench almost being shot by the soldier now guarding their commander. 

"Commander, I'm your radio." He quickly handed her the radio 

"Report!" She barked out in anger, sorrow could come later. First came revenge and anger. 

"The enemy is fleeing on the left" 

"Same on the right" 

"Center too" 

"Alright, left flank split into two, one of you will begin sweeping up along the trenches, the other one protects centers flank. Center flank pursue the enemy in till you reach the hill approximately 3 kilometres away. Right flank you do the same as left and split into two one to sweep up the trenches in till you meet the other divisions and the other one to protect centers push forward. " 

"What about the prisoner's Commander?" the Center commander asked 

"We have no need for baggage Major" She responded 

"understood General, they'll wish they hadn't killed so many of us" the voice responded 

She felt a slight bit of conflict with her last command in till she took a glance back as she saw good Anzio girls... her girls dead strewn about the trenches. Some L3's burning or with girls shot as they climbed out. Even further into the fields, she could see the tanks and soldiers that covered the battlefield dead and finally, she glanced at her tank or what used to be her tank as the fire raged on spewing out of the turret which had a giant hole in the back where they kept the ammunition. She registered the drying blood and dirt on her clothes and her eyes and heart hardened as french begging in the background could be heard followed by gunshots echoing through the air. 

————————————————————————  
Outskirts of Little Menton, On the coast of Little Mediterranean   
Amaryllis   
May 26, 2:00 am 

Amaryllis lead the infantry forward under the cover of night, the moon was covered by clouds up above. Amaryllis had scouted the defensive lines that were only one kilometre away from the border allowing her to see how the defences were set up. It seemed that their defences centred around the town of Little Menton using the four ravines that stretched up north as their bases for their trenches and bunkers with two dreaded artillery gun turrets that were twin 120mm artillery guns. 

The plan had been made by both her and Miho, considering this was some of the best terrain available for the tanks being mostly rolling hills and ravines with towns on the coast to capture. The plan was simple and yet would bring devastating results if properly executed. Amaryllis would lead her infantry during the night to crawl as close to the enemy trenches as possible mere hours after a declaration of war. Once close enough they would wait in till the 4 am bombardment as soon as it ended her troops would rush forward chucking grenades and jumping into the trenches.Once the fighting began Miho would come barrelling down with her tanks and more infantry to reinforce the attack and force a wedge into lines and hopefully overrun this defensive line and the next one taking out two of their three main initial defensive lines. 

Her troops had been drilling on how to take out tanks and how to use their Sturmtruppen tactics better. Combined with their experience within the invasion of Bonple and some of the best weapons from WW2 that being the MP40 and MG34 it should result in a complete break in the Maginot forces or at least a tactical withdrawal by the Maginot forces. 

This is why almost 35,000 men were currently running while crouched through a valley and on the brink of the morning with only a sliver of moonlight to help guide them. Amaryllis predicted another hour and they would start their ascent onto the enemies' side of the hill. 

Clutching her pistol Amaryllis was semi running semi jogging down the hill followed by a group of soldiers or more like her bodyguards. She dodged the trees and remained hidden in the bushes as she moved forward like a shadow in the night. She was carrying extra grenades like all her soldiers for this mission since they including her had all been ordered to be very liberal with their use of grenades. She also had a close combat knife called Nahkamphmesser, a german close combat knife that was seven inches long. 

As the time passed and the moon began to go down Amaryllis found herself halfway up the mountain on her stomach hidden within the bushes and grass. She and her entire division had been forced to travel through two small ravines and had trudged through the mud at the base of the huge valley. 

Now she was on her stomach pistol in her right hand which was currently angled so that she could watch her watch as it ticked down towards four AM when the bombardment would begin for an hour. The small hand ticked down till it reached four am when a distant booming could be heard and in a few seconds, a soft whistling was heard before an explosion sounded ahead of them throwing dirt into the air which cascaded down the hill. Some flecks of dirt would even reach the girls that were prone and land on top of them. 

Amaryllis scowled slightly as dirt fell over her uniform, it took a lot of effort to keep such an elaborate uniform clean and proper. She double-checked her equipment again, with the two grenades that were usually on her hips and had the tendencies to be thrown at the beginning of a battle. 

There were four other grenades strapped to her chest all Steilhangranates or potato mashers. Double-checking her Luger she ignored the dirt that fell on her some more and finally she checked to make sure the knife attached to her leg was still there. 

With the checking down with all that she could do is wait and enjoy the sunrise from such a beautiful view with of course the small annoyance of the occasional dirt falling on her and the background explosions which she had come to get used to.

Checking her watch for the umpteenth time she saw that there was only one minute left before the assault would start on. Grabbing her whistle she waited for the shells to stop dropping as soon as the silence reigned for more than 30 seconds she blew her whistle nice and loud. 

35,000 thousand soldiers at once got up over a stretch of 2 km holding all kinds of different guns from rifles to submachine guns. All of them were holding a grenade in their hand ready to arm and throw it into a trench as they get close enough to throw it. 

"For Ooarai! For Miho! For the Kaiserine!" Amaryllis yelled out the battle cry which was repeated up and down the lines as they followed their leader the Death's Devil as she leads them from the front fearlessly. 

Amaryllis primed her first grenade as she chucked it into the enemy trench and immediately grabbed the next one from her chest as she began moving forward another grenade was chucked into the trench just as the previous one blew up sending dirt into the sky. 

Reaching down she grabbed her knife and jumped into the trench right after her grenade blew the enemy up. Turning to her right she saw a few dead Maginot bodies and behind them were two stunned soldiers. Two quick shots from her Luger and the girls fell down, one clutching her chest the other clutching her throat. 

The trench had certainly taken a beating Amy noted as she saw parts of the trench seemingly falling in on itself. Of course, the main goals for her troop's were two things, neutralize the bunkers and neutralize the artillery turrets. 

More of her soldiers filtered in a few being unlucky and getting shot as they entered either being injured or dead. Moving forward she noticed other soldiers in the same trench as her follow her instinctively as she began making her way through the chest. 

Turning a corner she found an enemy rushing down the trench, her knife was a flash as it dug itself into the girl's chest before being ripped out. Seeing behind her a group of more soldiers having stopped she threw herself backwards around the corner popping two shots off that missed as she did so. 

Grabbing another grenade she primed it and threw it into the direction of the soldiers. The grenade went off and her girls moved forward turning the corner a yell ripping through their throats as they charged down the trench line. 

They had approximately 10 minutes to neutralize the artillery turrets she thought to herself and followed her troops forward. Finding two bodies having their front littered with shrapnel and another girl with a stab wound in her stomach.

They continued moving forward some girls joining them from other sections of the trench, the sounds of close-quarters trench warfare filled her ears with screams from different girls being a constant fact. There were sporadic rifle gunshots with more commonly the Mp40's unique Ratata sound and clashes of rifles and bayonets being heard. 

She was sure they had made it to the second trench level, one more and they'd be in the vicinity of the artillery guns. The wood holding the trenches was holding together better than she thought they would have as she continued moving forwards stopping as they came upon a small concrete stairwell. 

Motioning for two girls to join her she led the march down the stairs into an elaborate concrete room. turning to the right she made her way down and found a Maginot girl turn the corner rifle trained on her. Reflexively she brought her Luger to bear on the enemy once more and shot twice. The reflexes that she had developed during the Bonple had just saved her as she pressed herself against the wall just in case the girl had shot. 

One of the other girls began leading down the hall and turned into a room only to block any attempt to stab her with a rifle. Their rifles locked together as wood rubbed on wood, slowly grinding each other as Amy brought her pistol's sights on the Maginot soldier with practiced ease and steadied her aim. 

Two shots rang out and the Maginot soldier slumped to the ground. 

"Thanks for that Commander," the girl said as she took a step into the room only for another two shots to ring out this time distinctively rifle shots as the girl stumbled backwards and hit the wall before slumping downwards. 

Gritting her teeth Amarylli's eyes darkened and exuded a killer's aura. Her sickly skin suddenly seems to become horror inducing as her whole body language shifted into that of a devil. Grabbing a grenade she primed it and tossed it into the room blindly. 

An explosion rang out and she turned the corner blitzing forwards her knife flashed cutting the throat of one soldier and shooting another one that had already been hit by the grenade. Her gun flashed once more before clicking to inform her of the lack of ammo. She threw her knife at the girl and rushed towards the last of the four girls in the room. 

The knife buried itself in her right shoulder as she gripped it and dragged it down to the left ripping her open before pulling it out. Scouring through the room they gathered the necessary papers on the desks before leaving the room. 

Getting out of the entrance she made her way forward in the trench watching as her soldiers rushed around in the trenches that they had captured. 

Reaching a location where an MG34 was currently set up on some barrels and was shooting steady bursts of shots down the corridor at enemies.

"What's the situation Captain," she asked briskly to the girl up against the wall 

"were being held up by at least a squad if not more of Maginot soldiers. This is the last corridor before were in the Artillery bunker." the girl replied 

"Your troops still have grenades?" she asked

"Yes" the Captain responded 

Reloading her pistol she set it aside for a second as she readied her grenades and signalling for the others to do the same. 

"On three" she ordered 

"1"  
"2"  
"3" 

six grenades were tossed into the air as the girls readied another volley of grenades and threw it once more. A series of explosions echoed on the other side and Amy smirked. 

"Let's go girls!"

"For the Kaiserine !" she yelled as she turned the corner and ran forward with a group of 5 girls following her. 

Turning the corner she found a pile of bodies unmoving. That had proven to be over 20 soldiers killed all at once. Stepping over the bodies she continued forward, turning a left she found herself at the artillery turret which began turning towards Miho's tanks who were in the valley.

Bursting into the turret she found 6 girls busy manning the turret who was stopped immediately by the gunshots of 6 bullets. Holstering her pistol and knife she grabbed a rifle and ordered some girls to use the artillery turret against the enemy. 

Exiting the turret she looked at her watch and saw there was less than 10 minutes before Miho's troops would arrive. 

"TANK!!" a girl screamed as Amy rushed over to the area, practically the entire first line of the defences had been captured with the occasional pocket of stubborn pockets of soldiers. It didn't come without a cost though she grimaced as she saw some of the injured being carried into the dugouts. 

Arriving at the location she saw what the fuss was all about, a Char B1 had decided to show itself. A deadly piece of impenetrable machinery, with a howitzer on its hull and a 37mm cannon it would prove difficult to deal with only anti-tank grenades. 

The tank began rolling forward as Amy looked for a way to take it out or else this might all end up being for naught. Grabbing one of the anti-tank grenades she prepared to book it to the tank and throw it at it. It was simply a grenade with 6 additional charges strapped to it allowing it 7 times more explosive power. 

Putting a hand onto the dirt she was just about to heave herself when 5 different shots hit the Char B1 not knocking it out but surprising it for sure. Turning around she saw Panzer III and Panzer IV rolling up and moving around the Char B1. It knocked out one tank before another volley of shots disabled it and forced the crew to jump out with hands over their heads. 

————————————————————————  
Further South on the Main Road to Little Menton  
Miho  
May 26

Miho was in her classic position, which is halfway out of the tank and sticking out of the commander's hatch looking like the Goddess of war and luck. The Panzer IVD was flying down the road at 40 km/h followed by a few dozen tanks behind it being a mix of Panzer 38t and Panzer III with some Panzer II although they were already being phased out. 

Behind the tanks were a few dozen more trucks filled to the brim with Assault infantry, the difference with normal infantry is that these ones carried only MP40 and MG34. The plan was quite simple and was a small deviation in the initial plan. Instead of focusing on one single central push, she would take a small detachment of troops around 36 tanks strong and 800 infantry and they would push along the coastal road in the south against the weakened and isolated southern defences.

If Amaryllis had done her job correctly then the artillery turrets should be disabled allowing the trenches and bunkers to be easily overrun and if the enemy general reacted the way she felt she would then there should be little to no tanks left in the south and even less infantry as the general scrambles to plug the new gap that emerged in her center splitting her in two. 

As her tank followed the road around the hill she admired the beautiful scenery of the calm ocean a complete disregard for the absolute chaos happening just a few short km away from it. The Panzer IVD turned and appeared just 200 meters away from the three trenches deep trench line with around 6 bunkers covering the entrance and only two *Somua S35 in place, an almost mini version of the Char B1 tanks without the howitzer on the front, it almost looked like two metal ducks were sitting on the road. 

"Hana Target the Somua's first." 

"Roger Miho" 

The turret of the panzer began to turn as she spoke to the other tank commanders "All tanks target the french tanks first and move on to the bunkers afterwards, I want our Panzer II and two trucks of infantry to secure these defences. The rest of you just keep on driving through." 

"Yes Kaiserine" they had come to start calling this nickname as the female leader to her nation. 

"Roger" and other types of affirmations echoed through the radio

"Mako keep on moving forward, ignore the enemies." 

"Understood Miho," Mako said concentrating on maintaining speed.

The turret rocked as the cannon fired the shell sailing true and slamming into one of the Somua S35 knocking it out of action. The machinegun blazed alive as Saori fired it at the trenches before they were within 50 meters away from the trenches the Maginot soldiers watched in fear as Miho's tank advanced toward them with no signs of slowing down. 

Miho felt her short hair flap around her from the wind running through her hair. Her eyes darted around calculating possibility after possibility. When she was like this in her commander's seat commanding her army she felt like the empress of the world, she was glad she had such good friends or it would have gone to her head a long time ago. 

The gun fired once more although this time it barely skidded the side of the Somua S35 tank and instead slammed into one of the trenches next to it. Another tank behind them fired at them and hit them dead on catching it on fire. The Panzer II began the clean up as they began blasting their 20mm cannon's that ripped through the infantry in the trenches. 

Miho's tank had a tiny bit of air time as they hit a trench at 35km/h and landed only to hit another trench and then the final trench. Miho had been forced to clutch the commander's seat in a small amount of panic in an attempt to make sure she didn't fly out of the tank. 

"Alright, the next point is the town center, once we capture what should be an empty town center we considered into three groups, the first group will be under my command we shall continue west and capture the rest of the town as well as the road forcing the Maginot forces to retreat in mass. 

The second group will head north and slam into their flank easing up the pressure being put on Amaryllis and her forces as well as the rest of the division. The last group will be considere as the reserve and will reinforce any location in case they are foolish enough to attempt an attack into the town. Everyone got it?" Miho spoke in the increasingly familiar authoritarian tone that was secretly called by her soldiers as her "Queen tone" or "Empress tone". 

A swift confirmation from the other commanders made her smile as they continued to go down the town roads. Soon they were in the town square where instead of the desolate town square there was instead a resting battered armoured division and infantry division about 40 tanks strong mostly Somua S35's with two Char B1s and around 300 exhausted infantry. 

"Change of plans! Contact front! Open Fire at will!" Miho yelled in her mic as Mako hit the brakes hard as the tank slid forward slightly turning to the left before coming to a stop. 

Hana fired and it started the small firefight, Hana's shot had been true and had demolished a Char B1s. The other tanks fired one after the other taking the enemy by surprise and destroying half of their tanks in the first shot. The infantry jumped out of the trucks and dropped to the ground their guns blaring by the time their stomach hit the asphalt. The tank's machinegun blared at the infantry as Miho watched the one-sided massacre and soon what was left of the Maginot armies began retreating in a messy mob. 

"All forces continue with the previous plan to engage any enemy you find." 

————————————————————————  
Miho watched through her binoculars as the entire Maginot army began retreating through the main highway in a hurry. With the loss of the town, the situation for Maginot had become too precarious and if Miho had more girls she would have encircled them in a way where they could either walk through the mountains or surrender. Sadly she didn't have enough properly placed troops. 

————————————————————————  
Word ledger 

M13/40: one of the Italians main battle tank, which became outdated after its first two years of service.. With a 47mm cannon and twin machineguns in its hull. It is rather adapt at taking care of infantry and early war tanks. It's rather underpowered engine resulted in the tank being slowed down quite a lot and the two man turret was described as cramp. (AN: I skipped over the M11 tank which was a mistake on my part. I blame some poor research done by past me)

L3/35: the L3/35 also known as the CV33 is a small Italian tankette (yes this is a real word) that has twin machineguns as it's only armament and armour so light that anything bigger than an average bullet will shred it to pieces. It's main advantage is its ability to fight in the mountains and it being so low to the ground. This was used in till the end of ww2 and would later be upgraded in multiple ways. Rip Italian crew man who was stuck with this tank in 1945. 

AMC35: one of the only French tanks with a two man turret it was a rather well designed tank meant to be mobile while still packing a punch and having some armour. It's aesthetic leaves much to be desired as it looks like very slightly angled boxes stacked onto each other. The cannon is 47mm and it hold a crew of 3, a gunner, commander and driver. The tank has been known to suffer logistical problems, transmissions and motor stress had forced real life Belgium to cannibalizes two of their 9 tanks just to sustain the others. 

Somua S35: the Somua s35 has been described by a lot of historians as the best 1930's tank (this is arguable though). The armour is good enough to block any shot from opposing tanks to the front of the tank and it's mobility was good enough for it to exploit breakthroughs. Their are however some critical flaw in the tank, their is no cupola and the turret is a one man turret meaning the commander is the gunner and also doesn't have vision of the outside except through the gunsight. Another flaw was its suspension being overstressed causing breaks in the tracks and the drive train. It was also fairly rare as production was costly and complicated meaning repairs took longer. The upsides were both the gun and the armour. The tank was made for offensive actions and is therefore I'll suited to defensive actions. 

Tankette: the word tankette is a forgotten military term by most people. A tankette at its base is a tank but with no cannons and instead with machineguns. It usually consists of a cheap fast tank that has machineguns or a cheap slow armoured tank with machineguns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like this chapter, it only covers one day as I wanted to cover each front. The north, center and south fronts equally. Although I ran out of ideas for a satisfying battle for the Centre forces that wouldn't give the game away just yet. The next chapter will finish this week off and involved the Confederation in making their countermoves. 
> 
> Let me know what you guy's thought of these chapters and let me know if you want me to post the battle plans for invasion. I'm sorry if some of this chapter seems of lower quality than usual but I spent an all-nighter making this as I didn't have time otherwise. I will be doing a proper revision of this tomorrow as well as revising Anchovies battle so that may be up to change. I really wanted to post this though before sleep claimed me. I might also create a few battle maps for discord. 
> 
> Anyway's thanks for reading and commenting on the server and I hope to see you guys on the Discord server (I'll host something there soon).
> 
> Signed Irishluck☘
> 
> 2020/11/15
> 
> Edited 2020/11/20 *fixed grammar mistakes, erased Anchovies battle (next chapter is her battle) and added Word Ledger*


	16. Attack of the Ruined Mountain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anchovy leads her army into a tough battle to take a critical mountain and rout the Maginot forces.

(Important Authors note at the end of the story.)

Highway to Little Chambrey  
Anchovy  
May 26

Anchovy stood on the turret of her tank and had her binoculars up to her face as she looked at the impressive set of defences before her. Like at every other part of the defence line there were trenches and bunkers. Anchovy was tasked with piercing the enemy lines on the highway and to chase them to little Chambrey 110km away.

Her army consisted of some Alpeninfantry (Mountain Infantry) units as well as some regular infantry supported by a tank division that she was personally commanding. The tanks were split between the L3 tanks which were suited to mountain warfare and the M13/40 which was less suited to mountain warfare but carried a cannon.

The defensive line she was going to have to attack wasn't going to be easy, it was in a big V shape with a rounded base. The center of the V was almost perfectly cut in half by the valley and consequentially the highway running along the valley. The left side of the V climbed up towards the top of a mountain 2600 meters tall with ruins of a fort at the top, it held an entire infantry corp by itself and was where the majority of the artillery was concentrated. The right side of the V was where a 5 km long ridge lay which was littered with anti-tank guns pointing into the valley.

Going down the road would be suicide, with the guns on the left, artillery on the right and most likely some tanks down the middle an entire army couldn't break through with that strategy. There was no right way to approach this situation, the only way to break through such a well-defended area was to concentrate on one area and just push through it with brute force.

The plan was simple, a combined strike by the mountain infantry and the tanks to take the ruins on the top of the hill and destroy the artillery pieces before driving down the mountain and hitting the flanks of their lines driving them off the road and cutting off their supplies.

Anchovy stared at the walls of the ruins at the top of the mountain with the line of trenches right in front of it and the mesh of barb wire at the edge of the trench.

Sliding into the turret of her M13, Anchovy grabbed her radio and began speaking into it.

"This is the Duce requesting some artillery support on coordinates 250, 1627" 

"Duce this is artillery, we will be able to give you some artillery support for 15 minutes before we have to switch over to help out Anzu." The response irked Anchovy slightly before she conceded that if Anzu was facing a defence anywhere near as tough as hers then she would certainly need some artillery as well.

Switching to a different frequency she began ordering the Mountain infantry on the other side of the crest of the mountain.

"Artillery will fall for 15 minutes, once it's done falling the assault will begin. I trust in you to accomplish your objectives on time?" She finished

"Yes of course my Duce!" was the only affirmation she needed.

Exiting out of the turret once more she watched the tip of the hill where the enemy was just barely 1.5km away. They were halfway up the mountain while still being out of range of the enemy rifles and guns.

Grabbing her crop Anchovy turned to the 80,000 girls that stretched on both sides. The Infantry division and the tank division were both interminglings with each other, some soft talking could be heard.

A swish of her crop and all the girls went silent as they watched their eyes became fixed onto their Duce.

"Glory! Respect! Honour! Those are what I have promised to the entire Anzio Empire. Today is our first step to achieve this, hand in hand with our Ooarai allies in the east. Today we shall crush the Maginot forces, let them know why Anzio is better! Today we shall prove that the will of the Anzio soldier is stronger than any defences they can put up against them. 

This battle. NO! This journey shall not be an easy one, it will be tough just like the battle ahead of us will be tough but I believe in you. Your Duce believes in you! Good girls will die today, but they will die believing in Anzio! Fighting for Anzio! Your Duce is putting her faith into you. Into her beloved and loyal girls. All I can ask is that you put your faith into me. Into your DUCE!"

As she finished her speech the soldiers that had gathered and prepared themselves to assault the mountain cheered and chanted repeating her title over and over again just as the first shell landed on top of the hill.

As the explosions vibrated throughout the entire army a cheer was let out as the troops began marching up the hill. The tanks roared to life and began their slow ascent to the top for a rare time being the one lagging behind the infantry as the assault officially began. 

The booming of the cannons behind her and the subsequent explosions that were seen on the top of the mountain seemed to encourage the soldiers who began a fast-paced march up the hill, no point in starting to run almost 1km away. 

A sudden booming roar almost like drums from the front was all the warning Anchovy had as she heard someone yelled out. 

"Incoming!" 

Grabbing the hatch she slammed it close on top of her as she stayed huddled into the tank as it continued lumbering up. The tank rocked back and forth as explosions landed around it, the yelling from outside the tank increased as the infantry tried to find any cover on the relatively flat terrain of the mountainside. 

The whistling was a constant noise now as both sides shells filled the skies, looking outside the window Anchovy saw that some tanks had been flipped and that the infantry was trying to remain huddle up behind the tanks as they moved up, occasionally a shell would land near some of the infantry blowing back some of the girls while the rest were killed, ripped to shreds by the red hot shrapnel travelling over 3000 feet a second. 

Taking a deep breath Anchovy opened her hatch up as the explosions continued to rock the ground and fill her ears with deafening sounds. What kind of Duce would she be if she stayed hidden in her little tank, no she knew what was needed. Sometimes good leaders need to risk themselves getting hurt for the betterment of their troops. 

Grabbing her crop which had fallen to the wayside in the turret, she poked her head tentatively observing the chaos around her as the girls had practically stopped moving in any direction. The tanks had slowed down considerably. 

"Campagnola. Don't slow down for any reason. Full speed ahead no matter what!" She ordered her driver as she gripped the side of the hatch and lifted herself out of the tank disregarding whatever her driver had responded with. 

Lifting herself onto the turret she stood on top of it as the tank began speeding forth, it was just a few km/h faster but it would put them at the tip of the spear. 

Her pale green twin drills flew behind along with her black cape as she stood on the turret. She balanced herself a bit before straightening up as she swished her crop into the air. Her seal grey dress shirt with its red shoulder markings, a black shirt underneath it with a black tie. There was a black belt at her stomach with a holster containing her pistol from the attempted coup just a few months ago, her baggy pants were the same seal grey that was stuffed into her knee-high black boots. 

An explosion rocked the tank as she wobbled to maintain on top of the turret. 

"Forward brave girls of Anzio! Prove to the cowardly enemy that we shall not be broken from something as pathetic as an artillery bombardment!" 

She swished her crop in the air as explosions continued to rain down on her and her girls and continued

"Do not cower behind the tanks! Do not cower in fear of the reaper! Show the reaper why us girls of Anzio shall be victorious today! The reaper shall cower before you today if you face him and tell him that you're not going down without a fight today!" 

Slowly Anchovy's words seem to start breaking through the troops as they began picking themselves up from the ground they had been hugging just a few moments earlier. They began moving forward in a slow and tentative movement. 

Minutes passed by as Anchovy continued her words of encouragement, letting them know that with their Duce's faith there was nothing to fear. Her crop swished in the wind, the occasional explosion rained dirt and grass on top of her as she merely shrugged it off and continued yelling. 

They were halfway to the enemy's defences, hiding behind the ruins or in their trenches as they dealt with their artillery problems. A shot from one of the Maginot girls was all that was needed for the entire battlefield to be filled with the sounds of gunfire. 

Anchovy felt the adrenaline pumping through her veins, her heart pounded in her ears as every second that passed she felt as if she was about to die but she remained standing. Remained on top of the tank as she began insulting their enemies while telling her troops how close they were from victory. She had glanced behind her once during the entire time and had seen at least a few thousand girls laying on the ground dead and at least two to three dozen tanks flipped over or if they were unlucky rendered to a smouldering pile of metal and fire. 

"The enemy is in front of you! Taunting you! Victory and glory is a hair's breadth away from us! Your Duce leads from the front shall you follow her and be remembered throughout Anzio's history as the girls who brought us the respect we deserve and the glory we deserve!"

An explosion landed fairly close to her as she closed her eyes and had to concentrate on balancing herself. The tank she was standing on dipped into one of the craters causing her to stumble a bit before she readdressed herself. 

"Proud girls of An-" her words were cut off as an explosion landed right next to her tank. 

She went flying off the tank as the tank flipped over. She crashed into the ground tasting dirt in her mouth, her uniforms were suddenly in tatters, parts of it ripped and others having black stain marks. She hadn't noticed it but her cape had accumulated at least a dozen bullet holes and with this explosion, the bottom part had been ripped creating a jagged ending to her cape that now ended at her lower back. 

The crop that had been in her hand was now nothing more than a broken stick, the pain in her hands and arms was excruciating as if someone had just thrown her off a building. Which now that she thought about it had just happened. Her legs felt like jelly and her chest felt tighter than usual. 

She couldn't remain on the ground though, it would shatter her soldier's morale and their faith in the duce. Struggling she slowly got up onto her feet discarding the shattered crop, part of herself felt a pang of sadness of losing such an important piece in her life. 

Hand on her holster she grabbed her pistol and withdrew it as she took a wobbly step forward. Each subsequent step got steadier and steadier as she made her way to her tank and its crew. She found them or two of them that had survived and the two other girls had blood pouring from their wounds. 

An inferno of rage and anger gripped her heart as she watched two of the girls that had followed her since she was a first-year and had the idea of creating an Anzio senshado team. Her hold on her pistol tighten as the smoke created from the explosions that were still rocking the earth and the bullets whizzing past her. 

"The enemy has just tried killing your Duce!" She yelled out, " They have failed and they shall pay for each Anzio girl's blood with their own! Forward girls avenge your sisters in arms and show them why the spirit of Anzio is to be feared!" 

She had the eyes of every soldier within sight as the leader that they had been sure having fallen to the enemy fire. She marched forward with conviction as soldiers began moving forward once more following their Duce. 

Enemy artillery suddenly stopped firing on both sides as the infantry came within 100 meters from each other. Anchovy exited out of the smoke to see the Maginot girls holding what was left of the ruins and trenches, the barbed wire had been smashed to pieces. 

With a wave of her pistol towards the enemy, Anchovy began running forward followed by hundreds of girls as the tanks followed them and emerged from the smoke. L3's began speeding forward their machinegun blaring. 

The enemy trenches were around 50 meters away from the ruins which held more Maginot girls. The barbed wire that was in front of the enemy trenches had been smashed by the artillery. The Maginot girls were popping out with their rifles and shooting at the Anzio girls charging towards them. 

Anchovy pointed her pistol in front of her as she fired a few shots from her pistol. She got closer and closer to the trench, girls fell around her as she continued to press forward and jumped into the trench. 

Slamming her shoulder against the wall of the trench she pointed her pistol down the trench and aimed at the first girl she saw. She began shooting at the girls watching as they jerked and fell in till her pistol clicked uselessly. 

A rifle shot to her right had her spin around only to notice a Maginot girl lying slumped against the wall her rifle with a bayonet a meter away from her. Looking up she saw an Anzio girl jump into the trench with her. 

"Don't worry Duce I got your back" 

She nodded readily and reloaded her pistol as more and more girls began flooding into the trench. A shot hit the dirt right above her head to the left and a quick turn in said direction and she saw the girls behind the ruins shooting down onto them. 

The ruins of the fort were fairly battered but the stones and arrow slits remained as great cover for the Maginot girls. Pointing her pistol she shot a few times before ducking down. 

"To the ruins! For Anzio!" She shouted out as she scampered over the trench and towards the ruins. 

Half of the girls followed her while the other half continued clearing the trenches. A girl stuck a rifle through the arrow slit in and she saw the iron sight pointing towards her when suddenly shell slammed into the arrow slit. 

She reached the stonewall in a few seconds, her back was toward the cool stone as the gunfire and struggles of melee fighting could be heard. Spotting a hole in the stonewall where the stonewall had fallen apart long before this battle and had created a smaller stonewall that reached up to the average girl's hip and reached up to her stomach. 

Turning around she noticed 5 other girls pressed against the wall with her. 

"Theirs a hole in front of us. Were gonna crawl through and begin clearing the ruins"

"Si Duce!" they responded to her order. 

Reaching the hole Anchovy jumped and grabbed onto the ledge pulling herself up and rolling of the wall only to hit the floor with a small "umph"

Her pistol in one hand Anchovy awkwardly looked at one of the girls who had her rifle down in a small arrow slit and was too concentrated to see her. Whipping her pistol up she shot a bullet through the girl's chest and watched as the girl fell onto the ground helplessly. 

The room was quickly filled with the other 5 Anzio girls as Anchovy got up. 

"Stay behind Duce. We can't afford to lose you." one of the girls told her

"Yeah, Anzio can afford to lose a soldier but not their Duce"

"Well I can't afford to lose my soldiers" Anchovy spoke back 

"Even so. Your too important, just let us lead for you please" another one of the girls said 

"Fine, let's hurry the faster the ruins are cleared the faster we can hit the artillery"

The girls nodded as they began leading the duce who was holding her pistol and stayed at the back of the group. They entered room after room as they slowly began clearing the rooms, a few close calls with some friendly troops and a grenade that had bounced into the room only for one of them to kick the grenade away. 

Anchovy only had to shoot her pistol once more during the fight for the ruins as a girl emerged from a closet in an attempt to take them out. 

The tanks had already gone around the ruins and some went through it as Anchovy and her 5 girls set themselves on a low hanging stonewall as the Maginot soldiers began running away, some of the artillery which had been set up on the top of the hill had been forced to be left behind although some of them had already evacuated if the tracks on the ground showed anything. 

Some of the crews tried to run away with their artillery as they attached them to a truck and jumped into the truck only for the L3's to light them up and fill the trucks with dozens of machinegun holes.

Her girls and herself helped out with their situation as they fired upon the retreating girls that fled down the hill. Pressing her cool back onto the stonewall Anchovy took a deep calming breath as the adrenaline continued pumping through her aching and sore muscles. Her arms still hurt from when she had been tossed from her tank half an hour ago. 

Exiting out of the ruins she marched up to one of the tanks that had paused on top of the hill and climbed on top of it. 

"Soldiers of Anzio you have made your Duce proud today! But the battle isn't over yet, down this hill is the last holding of the enemy. Once their Precious road is taken they shall be forced to flee with a tail between their legs!" 

A cheer was heard from the girls before she continued onward noting how there was a visible amount of girls missing since this morning. 

"I believe it is only appropriate that we repay them with their shells," she motioned towards the artillery that had killed so many of their friends, " We shall rain hell upon and have them running from the field before dark!" Anchovy declared 

A roar followed her statement as she took a look to the sky seeing the sun halfway down, taking the hill had taken three long torturous hours. 

She watched as the tanks and girls followed the running girls down the hill and the other half began manning the artillery guns.

Anchovy watched through some crack binoculars she had found as her troops over the next hour fought over the road and with some satisfaction watched the artillery shells fall onto the enemy forcing them back inch by inch. The French tanks seemed to have begun a tentative withdrawal against the overwhelming force that was the tank division and two infantry divisions. 

It pained her though to not be following her troops, she had wanted to grab a gun and jump on top of a tank to lead them but a combined wave of fatigue and a few cuts and bruises the medics wanted to treat her for had forced her to stay behind much to her dismay. It pained her when she saw a girl fall and she swore to bury each and every soldier within Anzio territory. 

By night time the entire road was theirs and around half a division of Maginot, girls had been cut off from the road although she was sure that through the night they would simply melt into the mountains and flee to friendly lines. It was still a victory a fairly costly victory as she watched the smoke from the tanks filling the air and the bodies of dead girls littering the fields. 

So this was the difference between a real battle and a small skirmish like she had back in Little Rome. Swallowing some bile as she realized the casualties would be atrocious, not that she could have reduced them. Attacking a fortified mountain was always going to be costly. 

The road forward wasn't going to be any easier she knew, but at least it shouldn't get harder.

————————————————————————

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s the proper anchovy battle scene I had promised. I’m sorry this took so long but I’m swamped with group projects and term finals coming up for me and free time is far and few. So expect updates to slow down a bit more for a week maybe two. I am trying my best though to be able to continue pumping out chapters each weekend. Just don’t be surprise if instead of on Sunday you receive it on Monday. 
> 
> I implore you guys to please join the discord, I know this is probably getting annoying by now but I really would appreciate having such a direct way to communicate with my audience. 
> 
> Anyways on the discord I will be posting a few overhaul battle plans on what happened the past two chapters. You will only be able to get those battleplans over there. 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter please let me know what you thought of it and I hope you have a good end of week/ weekend. 
> 
> Signed Irishluck ☘️  
> 2020/11/19


	17. Chapter 17: Burden of Command

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the operation continued, casualties begin to mount and the leaders feel the strain of commanding their troops. With Anzio and Ooarai armies rapidly moving across mountains but not without casualties as the light defence of the Maginot forces that seem to be on the run create a trail of dead and injured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long chapter (over 13,000 words), my longest chapter ever. Take it as an apology for being dead for 2 weeks.

In the air near Little Nice  
Francesca  
May 27

Francesca was flying through the sky at around 2500 meters in the sky, she and her flight group of 20 planes were tasked with escorting 36 bombers to their drop off point. The objective was simple, the bombing of the Nice airfield. According to some intelligence reports, the airfield combine with the Little Grenoble airfield which had been bombed yesterday is where most of the Maginot airforce was stationed in the area.

Francesca had her pilot's cap strapped on her head with some goggles and a pair of headphones. Her hair was tied into twin tails and she was wearing a pair of gloves and a thick coat. She had fallen in love with the plane she was currently flying, a state of the art *C200 fighter plane which she had read in the manual was one of the most stable planes and had both good speed and turn rate although the armaments were lacking with only a pair of machineguns.

The rest of her flight group were flying C200 as well with a few *G50 fighters amongst them. The bombers were *Fiat B.R 20, a twin-engined medium bomber that we're currently carrying twelve 100 pound bombs. The bomber was slow but heavily armed with 2 machineguns at the front and two at the back.

Francesca checked her wristwatch and came to the conclusion that they were around 4 minutes away from the airfield which meant that they would probably be spotting enemies any moment now.

"Squad lead spotted enemy fighters approaching *10 O-clock high."

"Time to give the Maginot girls warm welcome girls. Remember stick with you squads, green squad stick with me." Francesca gave a curt and quick response.

Looking in the directions of the enemy she found what seemed to be 4 different groups of 7 fighters that had scrambled their way into the air to face them, they were just a few hundred meters higher than the current fighters. Softly steering the joystick Francesca felt her plane start a slow climb towards the enemy planes.

Francesca loved the feeling of flying with her planes it felt like a part of her that had been missing without her even knowing had suddenly appeared, it was like an extension of herself.

She felt the adrenaline start pumping through her, her heart beating slightly faster, her mouth drying up and her breathing quicken as she focused in on the enemies ahead of her.

"Bomber squadron this is Fighters, a group of 28 fighters are heading your way. We are moving to intercept them. Over and Out."

The bomber leader replied with something Francesca didn't quite catch as she saw the enemies begin closing within range. She continued waiting to line herself up with the enemy plane in front of her, her thumb gently caressing the button on top of the joystick to shoot the machineguns.

Looking at the sight in her cockpit she mumbled to herself "almost there... almost"

The enemy plane was well within her sights as it closed in, squeezing the button she felt the plane begin shooting as she tugged it to the side just as the enemy plane began shooting at her in return.

Francesca brought her plane out of the abrupt diving turn and levelled out only to see to her left the enemy fighter going down with a fire-spewing out of its engine and a trail of black smoke.

Scanning the skies Francesca disregarded the other planes already going down and instead focused on her next prey as she increased the throttle and sped towards another Confederation plane currently chasing after one of her fellow pilots.

They were currently stuck in a dogfight as her fellow Anzio plane swung left and right erratically in an attempt to get rid of the plane behind her. The Confederation plane followed closely behind as Francesca angled her plane to intercept the Confederation plane.

She was coming in from their side and therefore had to lead her target so that the bullets reached where she would be instead of where the Confederation plane was. She saw the plane heading to her sights as she lightly pressed the rudder to her plane and felt the plane gently turn towards the right while remaining horizontal.

She pressed the trigger and watched as the majority of the bullets overshot the plane but some of them seemed to have peppered the enemy plane's tail. Pulling her joystick to the right she felt the plane gently swerve and place itself behind the enemy plane which was now attempting to dive away from the combat.

Pressing the joystick forward she felt the plane enter a soft dive and found the enemy plane once more within her sights. Squeezing the trigger once more she saw two streams of bullets emerge from in front of her and strike the *fuselage of the enemy plane. A stream of white smoke emerged from the plane as she pulled away, the enemy plane was as good as dead and her goal was to protect the bombers not add to her kill count.

Quickly finding another enemy plane she went to get behind it as it seemed to be trying to line itself up with another of her friendly planes, this one seemed to be almost limping a bit as it had been shot up in another dogfight.

She was about to fire onto the enemy plane which was quickly closing in on her ally when it suddenly pulled away and seemed to be heading away from the fight. A glance around and she saw the rest of the enemy planes doing the same thing.

"All squads, pull off. Let's get back to the bombers."

Somehow during the entire fight, the bombers had made it above their targets and dropped their payload onto the airfield. If they hit it then it should be nothing more than a strip of dirt littered with holes.

Turning her plane back toward the bombers she took a glance down and quickly counted the black columns of smoke emerging from the ground. She had counted around 16 smoke columns and that wasn't counting all the white, grey and black smoke from planes limping back to base.

"All squads get a rollcall on whose still in their planes," she ordered as she proceeded to do the same with her green squad.

"Who's still up in green squad?" she asked

"Green one's here thanks for saving me back there"

There was a moment of silence that followed green one's response

"Green three's here, guess two didn't make it"

"Green four here, limping back to base my engine got shot up."

Francesca sighed at the fact of losing one of her pilots in her squad. She knew she couldn't be everywhere and help everyone but still it hurt.

————————————————————————  
North of Little Menton. Near Little Sospel  
Noriko (Duck team leader)  
May 28

Noriko was using the commander's hatch in her Panzer III to peer into the periscope that showed the outside world. The assault on the defences right outside of Little Sospel had already begun and the Duck team was leading the tanks forward in an attempt to breakthrough the set of hastily constructed trenches. They had been tasked with covering Miho's flank as she pushed along the coast.

Noriko was incredibly frustrated with whoever had been commanding the opposing troops as whenever she seemed to be breaking through and about to wipe the floor with the enemy they would retreat and escape with most of their troops. It was as if someone was predicting whenever she was going for a smash with a volleyball and stopping her from winning the match each time.

Guiding Akebi towards another tank that had exposed itself in an attempt to fire them she smiled in satisfaction as the tank erupted into flames. The Panzer III followed by all different types of Panzers behind her began climbing up the hill, the infantry were behind the group of tanks and following after them.

The constant pinging and sounds of gunfires and cries of agony were all that filled the girl's ears. She scanned for any threats to her tank as they continued up the hill and she guided Akebi towards a group of soldiers and had her fire.

The tank lumbered up the hill and crest the hill with no problems, in front of them was a small village where another desperate line of trenches had been set up, the soldiers clambered into the trenches.

"All tanks support the infantry in clearing out these trenches"

Leaning her head back against the side of the hatch she said out loud to nobody in particular " what is with these Maginot girls, it's like they're not even trying to hold these positions keeping only a handful of tanks and infantry. What is their plan."

The battle quieted down as Noriko opened the hatch and brought her binoculars to her face and looked around near the village in front of her. There was another set of shoddy trenches probably only half dug like these ones and only a handful of tanks once more defending what seemed to be the tail end of a column of troops and trucks retreating through a hill past almost another km away.

Why would they be retreating she wondered before deciding that if these defences were only supposed to slow her down then she better speed up her attacks in an attempt to gain on them.

"Commander Noriko, the trenches have all been cleared" came a voice from her radio, one of the lieutenants from the infantry.

"All forces, begin the assault on the village it's clear the enemy is trying to slow us down with these pitiful defences." She gave the order out

Although the defences had been pitiful they had been doing their job of slowing down her forces and even slowly withering her forces down although not by much she mused to herself.

Another 5 minutes passed as the troops set themselves up for the assault before the tanks began lumbering forward once more this time down the hill and towards the small village of at most 400 people and at the least 300.

The tanks drove for around 20 minutes before entering the range of the french tanks and when a series of shells flew at them and slammed into the dirt around them.

"Akebi, enemy tank 500 meters in front of us."

The panzers were quickly closing the distance with the infantry following behind almost 200 meters behind them. Shot's continued being exchanged with a few lucky shots from both sides knocking out some tanks. The Maginot forces were using some of their weaker tanks in these defences particularly the AMC 35's which weren't bad tanks but definitely the weakest ones out of the stock of enemy tanks.

Closing to close to 100 meters she felt the gun in the tank fire and saw the shell fly straight into a french one piercing it and knocking it out as it caught fire. The infantry and the french tanks seemed to be retreating into the town as Noriko and her forces chased after them.

Her tank drove through the now-abandoned trenches and into the town itself, she had ordered part of her corp to continue past the town and encircle it, she wasn't going to allow them to sneak past her forces.

Speeding down the town she stopped at one of the roads and waited for some of the infantry to catch up to her. If her time in Little Warsaw had taught her anything it was that advancing into a town without infantry was suicide, there were plenty of stories and she had first-hand experience with it.

She scanned the buildings around her and in front of her as she waited for the infantry to play catch up.

Once they arrived she ordered Shinobu to slowly begin driving forward as she kept her eye's peeled out for any movement. The infantry was moving alongside the tank and entering the buildings in pairs to clear them.

Coming up to a turn to the left she had her tank slowly turn the corner only for them to come upon an AMC 35. The shot from the Maginot tank hit the side of the turret and glanced of leaving behind a small dent and long lines of glinting grey scratches.

Akebi fired back and the tank blew up, some infantry that was hiding opened up on the infantry but was quickly cleaned up with some help from her tank. Once more they began rolling forward ever so slowly at a marching pace.

The engine rumbled in the background as they came upon another turn turning to Akebi she told her to ready herself for another ambush. A bit more quickly the tank picked some speed up so it was more at running speed and turned the corner and found itself in front of another tank.

Akebi shot and it sped towards the Maginot tank hitting it dead on and glancing off the front of it. Noriko froze in terror as she recognized what this tank was, a Char B1 is practically impossible to pen from the front and packing both a 47mm cannon and a 75mm howitzer cannon.

"Reverse! Reverse!" she yelled out as the Panzer had frozen in the middle of the road.

The panzer had just started backing up as Noriko saw both the 47mm and the 75mm guns fire. The tank lurched slightly to the left from one shell hitting them and lurched a few feet backwards as another shell hit them.

Noriko felt her head whip around in the commander's hatch and banged her head on the side of it. Staring in front of her she found herself being one of the two survivors from her 5 man crew. Both Shinosuba and Taeko were slumped in their seats in front of her their heads lolled backwards resting on the seat their face barely recognizable and their torso's and legs practically turned into red mist. The loader which had been a random girl was cut in half by some shrapnel and lay dead looking at her accusingly.

Only Akebi had survived by some miracle, scanning herself Noriko found a circled of red spreading from her stomach. The pain hit her right afterwards as she felt as if someone had just ripped the lower left of her stomach apart.

Her nose quickly alerted her of another problem as she smelt smoke. A fire just what she needed in a tank. Her head cleared as she pushed the overwhelming grief threatening to break out of her eyes. She needed to save Akebi at the very least.

Reaching over she shook Akebi "We have to get out"

Akebi looked at her with a frightened sad eye's which she was sure she was mirroring at the moment. She reached over to her own hatch as Noriko grabbed the commander's hatch and threw them open.

Grabbing both sides to pull herself up she felt a sharp pain from her left side almost forcing her to let go. First, her head stuck out then her chest and finally her stomach as she was about to push with her feet. Her ears which seemed to have gone temporarily deaf was faintly picking up the cracks of rifle fire and tank guns.

A piercing pain on her right shoulder forced her back down, she slid against her seat barely registration that she was currently yelling out in pain. Glancing down she numbly realized that she had a rather sizeable hole in her shoulder.

Slowly her body slid out of the commander's seat and fell slumped against the turret's floor. She was already feeling the fire heating up the tank to an extreme level and shifting herself over she found the fire already licking at her legs.

She peered out of the hatch Akebi had exited as her energy continued fleeing her body in its time of need. She could barely note that Akebi had somehow made it out before falling back onto the floor the room began to spin, she was unsuccessfully choking back screams of pain as she bled out on the floor and slowly burnt to death.

The room began to darken as she noted the warmth from the fire slowly disappearing, she numbly noted that her legs were burning up as she screamed out once more.

The pain was unbearable, this was how she was gonna die.

At least Akebi had made it out safely was the last thought that ran through her brain before the rest of her world faded to black.

————————————————————————  
Outside of Little Montgenevre  
Anzu  
May 29

Anzu's red-brown eyes peered through a set of binoculars as they watched the Maginot forces that seem to be filtering through the town in a rushed retreat. They still had left at least a division's worth of men to defend the town, which wasn't a small amount by any chance but it certainly wasn't anywhere near the armies side. Although considering that supplies were definitely strained because of the sabotages done by the spies then it did make some sense to retreat to a better location.

Although if they could break through Little Montgenevre quickly enough they might just catch part of their forces trapped on this side of the river as they attempt to ford the river nearby.

Anzu's panzer 38t was currently leading the Ooarai tank column down the road, they were forced to move at a snail's pace of only 5km/h so that the infantry could keep up. The infantry in question was a mix between Anzio infantry and Ooarai infantry that were currently marching next to the tanks their guns pointing to the ground.

At this pace, they would reach the town in 25 minutes, but combat would start in 10-15 minutes. Anzu rested her head onto the back of the commander's hatch and closed her eyes, who knew that commanding was so taxing ponded Anzu as she instinctively reached for her rations of sweat potato that she kept in her tank back in the real world only to grasp at nothing. That's right she thought, I ran out of sweet potatoes this morning, what has the world come to she mused.

Opening her eye's she shook her head of the meaningless thoughts filling her head up, she needed a clear head before going into battle. A glint at the corner of her eye attracted her attention to the mountainside to her right. They were travelling down a valley following the only road in the area, a four-way paved highway.

Grabbing her binoculars she peered into them where she had last seen the glint, there were only some bushes on the mountainside and some trees stretching up the mountain. Scanning it for a few more seconds she was just about to let them go presuming that her paranoia had gotten the better of her when she saw a french tank, a rather small tank that honestly looked ugly with the way its armour seemed to flow. Quickly running through the list of french tanks that Maginot could be using she came to the conclusion that they were either *H35 or *R35, both tanks were rather similar in design.

Swinging her binoculars casually to the other side she reached to her radio, they hadn't sprung the trap yet which meant that she still had time to make a plan. Scanning the mountain she found another tank, this one an AMC35 tank. It's 47mm gun was very deadly at this range, the only good thing was that the commander had to both shoot the gun, load the gun and command the tank.

Right as she was about to say something a loud booming sound that echoed down the valley was heard followed by multiple booms.

"Ambush!" one of the soldiers said next to her tank, immediately gunfire erupted from the hills towards the girls.

Two of the girls next to her tank were immediately killed by gunfire, one of them was an Ooarai soldier and the other an Anzio soldier. The rest of the infantry jumped into the ditch next to the road and hunkered down.

Meanwhile, Anzu at the same time slid back into the tank leaving the hatch open but too busy yelling at Yuzu to halt the tank. The tank skidded forward as the brakes were applied, jerking all five occupants of that tank as a shell just barely missed and hit right in front of the tank.

Anzu reached for her mic once more and took command once more, she had only come up with a few plans before the trap was sprung which meant she had to make a split decision.

"All forces form a U shape defensive formation, Infantry remain in the ditches and use them as cover for returning fire. From what I have gathered the enemy tanks are H35's, R35's and AMC35's. All tanks are to prioritize the AMC35 which are stationed to our left."

Multiple affirmations could be heard from the radio as the Ooarai-Anzio forces went from a chaotic mess into an organized force within seconds. The tanks all zoomed into position as soon a rough U shape was assumed as the tanks began returning fire on their ambushers.

The turret of the Panzer 38t turned towards the left and stopped on a french tank moving down the hill. Anzu had Momo replaced as the gunner and instead, Momo had become the loader, she had wished that she hadn't needed to make that decision but she needed a gunner capable of hitting targets.

"All reserve forces begin moving through the hills and mountains on your way to us, we have been ambushed by enemy forces and need some reinforcements," Anzu ordered the reinforcements that were 15 minutes away.

The infantry in the ditches had finally set themselves up properly as every girl was lying flat on her stomach just barely poking out as she fired at the enemies in the hills, every machinegun available had also been set up now and began firing back.

Exiting out the hatch once more Anzu noted that a dozen tanks had been knocked out in the initial barrage, only 5 of those had caught fire as a black column of smoke began reaching into the sky. Three of them had blown up and multiple girls were lying dead next to the tanks having been shot before being able to reach the ditch.

"Maze enemy tank 600 meters at 43 degrees. Take it out!" Anzu ordered as she continued scanning the environment around her.

The turret turned toward said tank as Anzu slipped back into the turret as the cracks of rifle fire and the ratata fire of the machineguns happening in a quick burst. The sound of cannon's booming shots as shells whizzing through the air before slamming into the ground.

Wincing slightly as the tank next to them was hit and the girls in it scrambled out of the tank Anzu looked at the columns of smoke in the hills marking where a french tank had been shot. Anzu racked her brain as she guided her gunner to another tank hidden in the mountains when suddenly the tank began turning toward its left and began driving away.

"Reinforcements what's your ETA?" She ordered over the radio

"were about 5 minutes out" was the quick and curt response

The gunfire began to calm down as the enemy tanks began moving away with presumably the infantry. Exiting out of her hatch she watched the infantry in the ditches some dead others injured and the alive one's still tight with tension as they scanned the forest.

"Begin taking care of the wounded, make sure their in stable conditions." she gave the order out

She counted the tanks that were left out of her group of 30 tanks, they had more back at the base but because of how small the path is she had decided that keeping some tanks in reserves would be better. After all, she couldn't cram 40,000 girls in one small mountain path.

They had 16 tanks she concluded, although two of those had their tracks that needed some repairing. Laying her head against the rim of the hatch she groaned, she was gonna need to have some scout unit's created with their entire purpose to just stop this from happening again.

Anzu waited for the reinforcement from the base to reach her, why had the Maginot forces decided to not continue on she couldn't guess. They could have wrecked even more of her tanks and completely destroyed her column. Whatever god out there had decided to grant her that mercy had her thanks.

————————————————————————  
Anzu ducked back into her tank as it sped down the road toward the town followed by 5 other tanks, the reinforcement had reached her and they had continued pushing toward the town getting ambushed once more although she had enough tanks that time to push one flank and destroy it at the same time as she pushed the other side. Now with around the 28 tanks, they were pushing onto the town, they had around 3,500 infantry following them as they assaulted the town.

Reaching the trench line Anzu had her tank start firing its machinegun down the trench as the infantry fell back into the town meanwhile her gunner killed the last french tank outside the town, a half-buried H35 tank.

Her scanning the battlefield she saw that most of the Maginot tanks had been knocked out of action or had fallen back into the town. Clenching her fist Anzu took a small calming breath, these mountains didn't allow for much movement which meant frontal attacks were the only way forward. For a girl that considered herself a cunning girl with perhaps a manipulative streak, it was frustrating not being able to use her forte's to command battles.

"Into Little Montgenevre girls, I want a small force to simple hold the lines here the rest of your remember what you learnt in Little Warsaw and let's take this town," Anzu ordered her troops

Glancing into a small corner of the turret she saw her MP40 that she had been given, most crew's had some kind of weapon that was better than a pistol for this kind of urban warfare. Grabbing it she rested her submachine gun in her lap checking for it to be loaded before ordering the driver to enter the town.

Three main roads were going into the town and one road that split of within the town, each group was given a Panzer 38t or a Panzer IIIF and a Panzer IVD, each group of tanks would, of course, be followed by a few squads of infantry. Anzu would lead the middle group which had 2 Panzers 38t and 3 Panzer IVD as well as 6 squads of infantry, some mortars had been set up on the outskirts of town in case they encountered any real resistance.

Anzu was leading the group into the town as she slowed her tank to a marching pace, remaining within her tank and making sure the hatch was closed to prevent any lucky Maginot forces from throwing a grenade in she begins peering at the buildings around her. The sounds of war had already begun to fill the air with gunshots, portions of buildings crashing to the ground and tanks firing being a constant sound.

The infantry scouted a turn before signalling for Anzu to continue forward, slowly turning the corner the infantry goes to follow when out of one of the window's a machinegun begins shooting at them. Pinging uselessly against the tank but killing some of the infantry escorting her she quickly guided Mazou her gunner to blow up the window

Chunks of the building flew around the place as the machinegun on the Panzer 38t began shooting at the remaining Maginot forces who were quickly overwhelmed and began fallback even further into the city. The tank resumed its advance as it went deeper into the city.

Arriving at a crossroad Anzu thought nothing of it, they had been sporadically fighting some small resistance but it mostly was Maginot soldiers with rifles desperately fighting back. As the tank was about to cross the crossroad the was a girl who jumped in front of the tank and held her hand up.

Anzu's tank jerked into a stop as Anzu watched confused as the girl proceeded to the corner of the building on the end of the road. As the girl peered around the corner it all clicked together making her want to bash her head against the commander's hatch. Of course, it had become a standard rule within her division for all tanks to stop before crossroad and let the infantry check the corners.

The girl rushed back to her tank and began climbing it as Anzu opened the hatch and lifted her head through it.

"Commander Anzu, there's a Maginot tank in the middle of the street turned this way. I'm gonna take my squad and take it out through the alleys"

"Alright, stay safe we will support you if we hear any cannon fire"

A curt salute later and the girl scrambled down the tank and got some of her girls to follow her within the alleys. Grimacing as Anzu shut the hatch she counted her blessings, just before this she had been praising herself for being a cunning leader and yet she almost fell for one of the most basic traps and was lured into a false sense of security. Shaking her head she brought her mind onto the matter at hand.

She hated the wait during battles like right now, it always felt like she was giving up the opportunity to attack the enemy and deal a devastating blow. She understood why she had to wait, being reckless and impatient was how you ended up the manipulated instead of the manipulator.

An explosion echoed down the right of the street piercing through the sounds of war and she quickly ordered Yuzu to drive forward and for Mazou to turn the turret to the right. The panzer 38t jutted forward and paused in the middle of the street as the machinegun burst to life and began cutting down the small ambush set up by the Maginot forces who were trying to attack the small squad who had taken out the now burning H35.

A small pang of compassion and sadness pierce her heart as she saw the commander exit the tank on fire and falling to the floor. It didn't warrant a big reaction from her or at least as big as it did during the Bonple campaign but it was still there. She wasn't sure she should be happy that she could still feel bad for someone or annoyed that she was feeling this for an enemy.

The Maginot soldiers in the street quickly fled deeper into the city before the small detachment of Ooarai girl's rushed back to her carrying an Anzio soldier that had accompanied them.

Exiting out of her hatch Anzu shouted at them as they got closer her MP40 remaining on her lap "Get her to the back of the column, the medics are there"

Entering her hatch once more she ordered the tank forward as they followed the road which gently bent to the left. Once the road straightened out once more she was surprised to see a group of 12 Maginot girls outside what looked like a small shady hotel with their rifles pointed toward a balcony building, shots could be heard from the balcony building and the Maginot girls seem to have seen something as a few of them shot into the building. Just a bit further away was an AMC 35 speeding down the road or at least speeding down for a french early war tank.

"Mazou take out that tank, Sara use that machinegun on those soldiers standing around!"

The tank halted without an order as the gun bounced up and down a few times before zeroing in on the Maginot tank before a shot was fired. At this range, any shot from a tank would hit on target unless the gods blessed you with some ridiculous luck. The machinegun once more opened up on the unsuspecting Maginot soldiers too busy with their own problem to notice the lumbering tank down the street.

The shell ripped through the tank and the tank continued moving forward listing to the right only stopping once it hit a building, the infantry on the other hand all fell to the ground without any trouble. The tank moved forward as gunshots could still be heard from within the sleazy hotel stopping right before when a Maginot soldier with a giant rifle relatively the size of the girl wielding it who seem to rest it against the building and aimed it at them.

"Sara wat-" Anzu was cut off as she saw the flash of the rifle and loud crumbling noise as the hard brittle metal of the Panzer 38t was shattered, a bright flash filled the tank and temporarily blinded the girls for a second as Sara's scream could be heard.

Anzu barely had any time to register the fact that one of her friends she had made during the last 5 months was screaming in pure pain as she reacted without thinking clutching the MP40 in her lap she pushed open the hatch and brought her gun to bear at the girl which seemed to be struggling to get back up after shooting the rifle. The Ratatatata sound echoed from the gun as Anzu fired it down the street into the girl the gun shook as Anzu held it steady.

The Maginot girl fell onto the ground sprawled with the gigantic rifle that she had been holding falling on top of her a pool of blood slowly expanding out.

A crash from her left resulted in her head swivelling to the side to see a young girl breaking through the wooden railings on the balcony from one of the rooms where the soldiers had been shooting at and the shots had come from.

The girl had a cloak that may as well have been non-existent with the number of tears and holes in the cloak itself, her silver hair flowed through the air behind the girl still somewhat clean except for the occasional clump of dried blood in the girl's hair. Her arms were covered in scratches and she had blood pouring down her right shoulder. Her stomach had some dirty bandages wrapped around her caked with dirt, mud and blood from a clearly recent wound that hadn't had time to heal. Her blouse was also ripped and dirty no longer the white colour it had originally been and her skirt was ragged at the edge.

The girl hit the ground on her side one hand holding a pistol which was pointed towards the balcony. She winced at the impact of the ground on her side's as her eye's watched wide-eyed as her two remaining pursuers appeared on the balcony.

Anzu saw the two Maginot girls appear on the balcony with their rifle's having only a moment to realize that the Ooarai forces had already pushed this far when Anzu's submachinegun once more blared as she cut down the two soldiers on the balcony, one of which fell forward down towards the ground hitting it and remaining unmoving.

Quick as a flash Anzu placed her gun on the edge of the hatch and holding it with one hand she pulled herself out of the tank and swung her feet onto the hull of her Panzer 38t.

Turning her head towards the back of the column where the infantry was currently rushing forward, the tanks currently being stuck behind Anzu's.

"Medic! We need a medic up here!" She yelled out

Dropping her gun next to the hatch she got on her knee's and gripped the hatch and tugged it open revealing an unconscious Sara who currently looked like a mess with her head lulled to the side and looking as if her entire torso was bleeding in which Anzu would later learn that her assessment wasn't too far off.

Looping her arms under Sara's arms she ignored the sticky hot feeling of blood as with the help of Yuzu she pulled her body out of the seat before laying her down on top of the tank grimacing slightly as she saw the bullet hole that had been made by the anti-tank rifle.

The medics rushed onto the tank and began setting themselves to carry the girl back to a safer location.

"Send another pair of medic's back up here, there's a girl further up that was injured," she told the two medics who quickly responded with curt affirmative's

Sliding off the front of the tank Anzu grabbed her gun and ran over to the girl who was struggling to get up her pistol still being held in one hand although the pistol slide was locked in its open position. The girl swayed slightly as Anzu rushed over barely catching the girl as she tumbled back toward the ground.

Her skin was clammy and pale and her eyes were struggling to remain open fluttering shut every now and then covering her determined red eyes. Her hand not currently clutching her pistol reached into her ragged coat and pulled some papers out of it and pressing it into Anzu's chest.

"Important... paper..." the young girl gasped

Anzu nodded as she noted the girl seemed to be smaller and younger than all the other girls, she couldn't be older than 10. What was she doing here, only highschool student's supposed to be allowed in.

No matter she thought to herself as she grabbed the papers with one hand and shoved it into her pockets.

"Hey! Hey! Stay with me here!" she shook the girl slightly as she talked to her.

"I lost a lot of blood" the younger girl noted as she looked down at herself with surprise

"Don't worry we've got some trained medics that'll patch you right up"

"Hmmm.... that was fun" an almost small insane giggle escaped the girl's throat as she looked around

"what?!" Anzu replied

"You... should read those... papers" she offhandedly mentioned

The medics rushed beside her bringing down a stretcher and carefully loading the young girl into it, her silver hair hanging out of the stretcher as the two medics began to pick her up.

"She must be missing almost half her blood, it's a miracle that she's still awake" one of the medics mentioned

"What's your blood type miss," the other asked the girl laying her in the stretcher

"... O type..." she drowsily responded as the medics began carrying her away

Anzu grimaced once more as she watched the young girl being carried away, she would need to visit the girl later to get her story as to why she didn't follow procedure and escape with the refugees on the road.

Climbing on to the tank she ordered Yuzu to bring the tank over to the side of the road to let the rest of the tanks to continue the push. The entire turtle team except for Anzu vomited over the side of the tank once everything caught up with them, Anzu simply rested her head against the hatch fighting the urge to throw up.

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Near Little Cuvat  
Caramel  
May 30

Caramel stared at the husks of tanks in front of her, at the very least a hundred tanks lay wasted in front of her. In between the tanks in the field in front of her lay hundreds... no probably thousands of girls that died in the daylong assault that she had just survived. Of course, as she glanced down the trench and even behind the trench she saw plenty of girls laying dead in the trenches and tanks burning or knocked out.

Glancing at the sky she saw the sun gently setting to her left, lowering her rifle from its resting position on the trench she watched in the distance as the Anzio forces began setting in for the night, small pinpricks of lights in the distance beginning to appear.

Whipping her dirty forehead she thanked the gods that she had survived the day, there was a certain feeling of accomplishment for finally halting the unrelenting advance by Anzio's forces. Then again dying might have been better as she stared out at what used to be green fields leading to a small hill.

Now it was a muddy field full of craters dead bodies and tanks most burning but some of them just sitting there abandoned by their crews during the battle. Sitting down in the trench Caramel looked over to her side and found one of her friends slumped against the other side, rifle laying in their lap.

Everything looked normal except for the hole in the girl's neck and the blood that had spilled all over her uniform. Looking away the girl looked back at the sky, it was the one thing that wasn't filled with death and ruination.

The girl's short curly caramel brown hair had gathered enough dirt to create a replica of her hair with. Her hands had gone from the creamy white to the muddy brown throughout the battle, her hands were sore from the number of times she had to cycle the bolt on her rifle and push bullets down the breach her fingers felt raw from the action.

The battle flashed before her, it had started like all the other ones, enough artillery to make some of the girls break in an attempt to run before the battle had even started even if everybody knew that would simply result in their deaths.

Then the familiar sound of the tanks driving forward to assault them, her own tanks which had been reduced to a few hundred across the entire frontline had shot so quickly she was surprised the cannons hadn't been reduced to a molten slab of iron. The girls that had followed the Anzio's tanks had been cut down by the combined machinegun and rifle fire throughout the afternoon before a retreat was called by the Anzio girls.

The explosions, gunfire and screams that accompanied a battle were still reverberating in her skull even if a deathly silence had blanketed the entire field. How could anyone expect to survive this she mused, it was like torture and they had sent teenagers into such a situation. Looking back up a soft smile spread across her face at the beauty in the sky, the orange sky looked so beautiful with splotches of pink and some red. It was nice to know that even with all that happened to her today that some beauty could penetrate the dark cloud of gloom looming over her, there was a ray of hope.

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Little Cornwall  
Nilgiri  
June 1

Nilgiri was watching as her Matilda was lifted up from the docks onto the transport ship. She was placed into command of a corp of troops with a tank division. Dubbed the Peninsular army, even though they were severely undermanned to be called an army. The hope is that the Anzio Empire would send more troops than needed into Little Spain to stop them from thinking they were an army size force.

The goal of the Peninsular army was fairly simple, they were going to be sent to Little Tangiers in Little Africa just across Little Spain. They would proceed to naval invade a specific place called Little Gibraltar close to one of Blue's (part of Anzio Empire) major city. It would also sate the Confederation's and the Bonple troop's demand for St-Gloriana to make some aggressive actions against the Axis especially with the invasion near Little Italia happening right now.

Darjeeling herself had given her the position for this operation which both filled her up with pride and some nervousness. She was still only a new member of the Senshado team and she was sure there were some other girls out there that would do a better job than her.

Taking a look around her Nilgiri let a sad sight leave her mouth, she had been hoping to explore this Little England as much as possible as it looked like an exact replica of 1930s Little England. The beautiful houses, docks and churches all looked amazing even if certain neighbourhoods had an air of slums in them.

Watching the tank slowly get lowered onto the deck of the ship she walked off to the boarding ramp. They would be leaving in just shy of an hour and she had plenty of planning to do, according to Darjeeling it was invaluable for her to plan her invasion.

She could only hope that her plan would be good enough to accomplish her goals and to please the new *Queen of St-Gloriana.

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Little Annecy  
Carpaccio  
June 2nd

Carpaccio watched from just outside the small city as columns of smoke rose into the sky, there were some fires currently being combated by her troops as they occupied the city. The city was on the side of a beautiful lake with mountains and hills on its side creating some cliffs along the lake and some beaches where the city was which some of her soldiers were currently enjoying.

They deserved it Carpaccio thought to herself, they had fought long and hard to reach these positions, every step of the way they faced some roadblocks and pockets of resistance that fought till the end. The city itself was a great example of this with only a few thousand soldiers and a few dozen tanks defending a city that easily deserved tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks not to mention how long they would have been stalled at this city with a proper defence. Instead, they had retreated almost constantly and been blowing up roads and generally turning the infrastructure into a nightmare as if they didn't want to hold the city, to begin with.

Biting her lip Carpaccio thought back to how simple it had been when she had been a simple co-commander for the Anzio senshado team or even when she followed Miho's word even if the girl was rather shy she made an incredible leader, perhaps an air of confidence would help her but she already had the brains to be an incredible commander.

She knew there was a bigger plan at play here, she just couldn't figure it out. She knew she was more of a field commander capable of enacting plans with vigorous-intensity but she would never want to raise higher than her current position if she could.

She'll simply write it into her report for Anchovy and Miho, they would be able to find out what was going on. On the other hand, she glanced back to the medical tents they had set up a fair distance from the battle to take care of the wounded as well as most of where their supplies are.

The so-called Geneva pocket had resulted in some predictable supply issues, in till she could connect with Anchovy her supplies would always be strained as the bulge Little Geneva created in the lines combined with the huge lake on its right side meant there was one road running along the border to bring supplies to Little Geneva and therefore her.

They had stocked enough supplies to run the army for two weeks, or that had been the plan but the number of casualties she had received both in her infantry divisions and armoured divisions had resulted in almost a quarter of the girls being dead or injured. It was an exhausting affair for everyone involved.

Carpaccio was going to request a few days of rest to let supplies, reinforcements and give the troops some time to relax before continuing the push. She also needed some time to... mourn her veterans who passed in this push in these god-forsaken mountains.

Not to mention she also had her army desperately thinned out over the frontline, those reinforcements were a must before she could continue forward or risk opening up gaps in her frontline.

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Little Sospel (Anzio Occupied territory)  
Erwin  
June 3rd

Erwin had her cap on slightly crooked to the side, her hair styled in its same unique way. Her jacket was the desert corp jacket modelled with Rommel's jacket, it was wrapped over her actual uniform which was the standard Ooaria uniform. Her eyes were staring straight ahead as she stared directly ahead towards the expanding highway that curved into the mountains as she sat on the rim of the commander's hatch. They were driving past the Little Sospel town with a small stop to resupply with from the supply depot in the town.

The town was relatively intact and the civilians were in the street as if nothing had changed except for the new Ooarai flag waving in the town which for the most part was true, the few changes came from some buildings still not fully repaired with clear tank shells having been fired into it and a few tank wrecks that had yet to be removed. There was also the fact that a highly restrictive supply depot stopped any civilians to get close to it but other than that it seemed like nothing was different in this town.

She had of course stopped at the makeshift morgue and had wished the dead Duck team members luck in the real world. She felt a small pang of guilt for how little she was affected by their deaths, it wasn't that she was heartless she just hadn't been too close to the Duck team. The hardest one hit in her team was Saemonza who although a nerd like the rest of the history club was also a bit of a jock and could therefore relate to the Duck team more than then the rest of the club.

She on the other hand only had two things that made her friends (and she used the loose term for a friend) with them, they both liked senshado and they both loved their school. That was where all the similarities began and ended with the duck team. It was a bit of a shame too since they were quite nice but they just didn't have any similar interests.

She had also read about plenty of wars and knew that someone would fall at some point, perhaps this is the desensitization they talked about in their diaries. When one goes to war creating a shield around their heart. She knew that war changed people but she didn't realize it would change her so quickly.

She had wished she could have helped Duck team but unlike in the invasion of Little Poland, the Ooarai team was more stretched out and separated by the mountains commanding their own detachments of the army.

She herself had been 28 km away from the duck team and 38 km away from Miho's team in the north with her own veterans from the Poland campaign. The infectious excitement of history from the leaders had bled into each of her soldiers in small ways. Her corp was by far the most knowledgeable corp out there researching everything they could get their hands on and learning from small quips from the Hippo team, of course, that didn't mean they were history buffs just more knowledgeable about it.

She and her corp had one job to do and that was either the destruction or surrender of 75,000 Maginot soldiers or force those soldiers to retreat north away from the vulnerable flank of both Anglerfish and Duck teams flank as they thrust into Maginot territory.

Now she considered her infamous battle at Little Lodz to have been a stroke of brilliance on her part as much as that sounded like she was simply stroking her ego. This last campaign though was a strong contender, a series of battles down the valley towards Duck team and Miho. The Maginot army was poised to retreat into the backs of Duck team.

Little known fact the CV33 tankettes that Anzio liked using were incredibly light and thanks to the nearby Alpen Anzio division, expert mountaineers, that lent her a few brigades of tankettes and their crews she was able to use one of their biggest advantages. The ability to climb steep hills and mountains and traverse rough terrain with relative ease for a tank anyway's and in a worst-case scenario, you could even push it up the hill.

Of course, the rest of Hippo team helped curb her more aggressive planning style as well as work out any flaws in the plan by wargaming the plan between each other. The simple plan called for the CV33 to infiltrate the mountains through the north and set up on the only path of retreat for the Maginot soldiers, she didn't know all the details of that journey but she was sure there had been some close calls.

The second part of the plan had her attack and break the hasty defences of the Maginot soldiers, they had expected worse casualties than what they received, only 10% of the troops committed to the assault were injured or killed. The Maginot soldiers broke got caught in the ambush and proceeded to retreat south... it had been the only risk in the plan as if they retreated long enough they would cut off Miho and Duck teams. Thankfully with an aggressive pursuit after the troops she had the entire army surrendering to her, close to 60,000 troops surrendered to her 45,000 troops on June 1st.

Staring into the sky as Hippo teams Panzer IVD drove along the mountainside Erwin pointed her head to the sky a smug smirk adorned her lips as she thought of her victory.

"Ceaser did you know-" she was cut off from continuing to speak from Ceaser

"That the Panzer IV was the main battle tank of the german army yes. It's only been the fifteenth time you have reminded us" Ceaser responded in an exasperated tone as a smile toyed at her lips. The rest of her crew had their hatches open and were looking out, letting the wind flow through them.

"Hmm then how about this, the Panzer IV was the only tank to be used from 1939 to 1945 with only the cannon upgrade being its major modification."

"I believe you mentioned that one during the Poland campaign" Oryou pitched in after a small pause

Erwin simply looked away deep in thought trying to find a more obscure reference to the Panzer IV.

"The Panzer IV was the most common tank during the battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle," Erwin said with finality the smug smirk that had slipt off her face back in full effect

"Ahh finally a new one," teased Saemonzo a smile that hadn't appeared the past few days appearing on her face "almost thought you had lost your touch"

"Hey! I focus more on the tactical and strategic front." She grumbled in good spirit

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Highway to Little Chambery (42 Km from the border)  
Anchovy  
June 4th

Anchovy was currently in her command tent, she had received Carpaccio's letter recently and had given her the go-ahead to take a few days of rest. The sun was already going down where she was, they had broken through the trench line the Maginot forces had made around the town and had taken the town rather quickly. Although the Maginot forces had the last laugh as they blew up every road in the town.

It certainly made it a pain to drive through and had even killed some of her troops. Talking about her troops she felt a small pang of sadness every time she noticed the numbers thinning but there was also a flourishing pride as she watched these troops who could have been described as greenhorns were turned into battle-hardened troops.

Not as much as the ones from the Bonple campaign.

Anchovy sighed in exasperation, she knew it was selfish but she wished that Carpaccio and Pepperoni were with her. She could only really drop her Duce's mask around them and even then it was only barely. Everyone saw her as the Duce which was a tiring role she had taken up as a first-year when she had decided to bring Anzio back to how it used to be in the past, revered for its food, a prestigious school with plenty of successful clubs and even a fledgling Senshado team that did well even with its small size.

Looking around the command tent she noticed a few girls still in the tent working away on the radio transmitting orders. A few were working on the stack of papers and there were even some that were at the map planning things for the days to come.

Anchovy had exhaustion in her eyes, not the kind from being tired although sleep wasn't the most common of things for her right now. It was more of tiredness from constant combat day after day. She gave a speech before every battle, during it she rode on her tank as she drove forward standing straight and using her crop to punctuate her speeches making grandeur movements arrogance bleeding into her stance and speech.

She understood why Miho did it now, if a girl could stand on a tank and not get shot then why couldn't the regular soldier not stand and do the same. Of course, that's why her crop was currently snapped in half a small string of plastic still holding it upright.

Shaking her hair slightly at the thought of seeing her crop snap of and having to play it off in her usual arrogance.

"See they can't even aim properly! Shooting my crop who do they think they are! They couldn't kill an elephant at this distance!"

She smirked at that memory, glancing down to her cape she remembered it flapping behind her as she advances towards the enemy occasionally pulling her pistol out and firing some shots off. She felt a small buzz up her spine at the memory of shooting her pistol, it felt so natural and it was quite fun too.

Of course, the death was still jarring to her, not vomit-inducing but still disturbing although she no longer felt any feelings when doing the act herself. It was either her or her enemy and she wasn't going to let just anybody kill her.

She would never admit it to anybody but she did enjoy standing on that tank feeling invincible and even enjoyed being the Duce of Anzio even if she didn't always like being responsible for so many people.

Straightening her uniform she briskly turned towards the table and marched towards her advisors who were currently discussing their next plan of action. Being the Duce might be lonely but it was worth it if it meant Anzio would be respected once more.

It didn't hurt that she certainly was egocentric and having people fawn over her was quite enjoyable plus she would never have been capable of being anything but a leader of her people, the fact that her people now also included Blue and to a certain extent Ooarai didn't faze her.

Her eyes sharpened on the map as she finished picking herself up from the loneliness that is being the Duce.

After scanning the map for a few seconds she spoke with certainty "The Arditi should arrive tomorrow, with them joining the assault we should be able to break through on the right an attempt to encircle some enemies. The more we kill now before we reach this second defensive line the better."

————————————————————————  
Near Little Monaco  
Miho  
June 5nd

Miho had the binoculars to her face as she watched the city below her, she was on the northern hills that surrounded the city. She could have surrounded the city by taking the rest of the hills to the west of the city as she owned both the east and north hills and the ocean was south of the city which was on the coast.

The reason she hadn't done so was the destruction of this injured Maginot corp was not the goal for her. She simply wanted to capture Little Monaco as quickly as possible and fighting a force that has nowhere to run would simply make them fight to the death which would lengthen the battle just like when she fought back at Little Warsaw. The fight wouldn't be easy after all but it should be made just a tiny bit easier by letting the Maginot forces have their path of retreat after all who doesn't want to live.

Scanning the city she noted how the houses were being barricaded by the Maginot troops and how they were setting themselves up to defend from all directions. Some sandbags in the windows, mortars and artillery spread out throughout the entire city, tanks in strategic crossroads and having sandbags covering them to add to their armour. They even had barricades in the street where she was sure she would find infantry right behind them ready to fight. She could already see in the towns how the open squares had been converted into artillery positions with dozens of artillery.

Lowering her binoculars she took a glance at her hills, her veterans had already dug their trenches stretching from the ocean at the base of the eastern hill all the way to the beginning of the western hills where it curved upward and led into the Duck corps position further up north.

Taking a deep breath as Miho was reminded of the devastating news she had received a few days ago when she heard of Duck teams demise. She could feel her eyes start to water slightly and her breath became slightly laboured. Shaking her head she scolded herself, she couldn't allow her soldiers to see her like this on the verge of a breakdown. Taking a deep breath to calm herself before straightening herself out, she glanced once more to her troops sitting in their makeshift trenches and slightly further behind the trenches in their *foxholes making sure they didn't see her near collapse.

Trying to distract herself Miho began analyzing her position. The trenches were about halfway down the hill allowing for her artillery to all be set up on the top of the hills. 450 artillery guns were lined up on the hills and had already begun a preliminary bombardment during the day. The tanks were hidden behind the hill ready to rush to any defence in case of an attack as unlikely as that would be although reports from some of the other commanders further north talked about how certain Maginot units seem to be using aggressive tactics.

Taking a step back and just barely registration the fact that the sun was going down she strolled over to her command tent. It was quite far a good 15-minute walk with the rest of her crew which had been waiting for her.

The walk back had a subdue air as all five girls still hadn't processed the fact that Duck team had been wiped out... they wouldn't see them for the next four years. Miho was the most subdued of all of them, feeling as if she had somehow failed the entire senshado team by letting Duck team die. Her mind knew it wasn't her fault, she couldn't have done anything short of keeping the entire team away from combat.

Arriving back at the tent, Miho ran her hand through her hair. None of the girls had been able to take a shower since this campaign began, 6 days of not washing and staying in the same uniform had her longing for the day when she had been in Little Rome relaxing in the baths.

Her shirt had some stains from grease or dirt that had been pressed into her dark blue uniform that was all wrinkled and the white-collar had some of its edges flipped on itself. The green undershirt that she was wearing stuck to her skin, her white skirt had enough grease marks and dirt on it that it could be mistaken as the original colour of the skirt. The only thing she had to thank for was the tough black leather boots that although didn't shine anymore was still black and stylish.

Her hand gripped the edge of the tent as she pulled it away and stepped in, the map was still left the same as before splayed across the table it was a zoomed-in version of the city. On the map, all the friendly units had been placed. There was a table with multiple radio pieces at the back of the tent with two girls sitting at the table busy working.

The side of the tent had chairs and more tables with documents be they reports or orders waiting to be sent out. Usually, if Miho wasn't on the field then she would be found here managing the army and her nation, although the NPCs seem to be able to run most of the country by itself. Thank god for the small mercy she had thought, the paperwork was already atrocious.

Saori walked up to the two radio girls and whispered something into their ears making them get up and leave, Saori sat down at the radio and brought one headphone to one of her ears while turned towards Miho. Mako had placed two chairs together and laid down on them looking like a tired cat who couldn't wait to sleep. Yukari had grabbed another chair and sat down at it watching the rest of the girls as she began rummaging through the backpack in the corner of the room for rations. Hana grabbed one of her books and sat at her seat, she had already read the book enough times to memorize it but it killed time so she restarted at the beginning of the book.

Miho meanwhile walked up to one of the desks with reports and browsed through them, looking for any pressing information that she would need to read at the moment. Discarding the day by day reports from the surrounding units, she could read them at her leisure later, she found four reports that she knew were important.

The first one was from Anchovy, it talked about how resistance was stiffer than they expected and how the mountains meant that a slow advance was needed to make sure they weren't walking into ambushes.

The second was from Carpaccio, it simply stated that she was gonna need a few days of rest before continuing her attacks as she was having some supply problems.

The third one was from Anzu, she opened it up and a letter slipped out falling to the ground. A sense of deja vu flashed before her as she remembered just two days ago when she had dropped the letter stating that Duck team had been killed. Her breath came out shaky as she reached down and grabbed the letter, she knew the others must have been looking at her worriedly. They were worried about her which just meant that she was failing as their leader, although Kuromorimine had been incredibly strict when it came to senshado they had gotten one thing right. Leaders couldn't show any weakness, it would spread like a curse throughout the army and she wasn't doing a good job at it.

Flipping the letter over she saw the neat and yet messy handwriting of Anzu, a breath that she hadn't realize she had been holding escaped her mouth. She began reading through her noticing the tear stains on the paper, how long ago had this message been she mildly thought looking up at the top she saw it had been sent on the 30th of May.

Halfway through the letter, she let a small gasp out as she read how they had been shot with an *anti-tank rifle. Thanks to Yukari she knew how deadly those things were and she felt guilty as she thanked that none of Turtle team had been injured. Miho couldn't think she could take another death so soon since Duck team had been killed.

The final part of the letter though had her almost drop the letter in shock as she almost dropped it in shock. One of the spies who were apparently still in intensive care had captured a set of papers revealing the Maginot plan. Apparently, the stiff resistance that seems to be just enough to slow them down was all part of the Maginot plan which demanded for a slow retreat to their second set of forts which held all the critical supply points while blowing up and blocking roads during the retreat to lure the Anzio-Ooarai forces into a situation where supplies were critical before counter-attacking.

The defences according to the letter were much stronger than the defences they had faced on May 26th. Placing the letter back down on the table Miho brought a hand to her nose and groaned out loud, she had been playing straight into the Maginot hands. Walking over to the map she wanted to bemoan the unfairness of this strategy.

Placing her hands on the table just below the map she stared at it before pulling it to the side and revealing the overall map underneath it showing the entire frontline from the coast of the ocean all the way up to Little Geneva in Little Switzerland.

"Miho what is it?" asked Saori

Mako's eye's opened up tiredly "Come on Miho, you can tell us what's bothering you"

The two other girls agreed with their friends as Miho gave them all a small smile before she peered back at the map.

"Do you think I'm a bad commander?" she asked almost out of nowhere, her eyes held a sad almost self-loathing look in them.

"What! No your the best commander I've seen" Yukari exclaimed

"But I just... I just fell into a trap made by our enemies" Miho softly spoke

"Don't talk like that Miho. Nobody is perfect" Hana pointed out

Clenching her fists she looked down at the table... at the map, her eyes zeroing in on where she had marked Duck teams death. Her light brown hair lay limply around her face shielding her from the looks of her friends.

"How can I be a good leader... were barely six months into this... torture of a game and we already lost a team. Duck team's dead cause I couldn't come up with a good enough plan... I couldn't save them" She choked back a sob as she softly mentioned them, she could practically see their faces in front of her.

"You couldn't have done anything more than what you had done" Saori softly mentioned

"Blaming yourself will only drag you down. Like Saori said you couldn't have done anything" Hana spoke to Miho

"You're experiencing what's called the *Burden of Command" Mako's voice seems to breakthrough everyone. Her almost expressionless tone seemed to surprise all the other girls.

"What do you mean?" Miho asked her

"It's hard to explain it. It's the burden of having to make decisions impacting those you love. It's... having a strong enough will to send in your beloved girls into combat against an enemy. To be a good commander you must be willing to order the death of a thing you love. You don't fear your own death but those of your girls. The price of war will always be high... Yukari can back me up on that." Mako spoke as she properly sat up sharing her wisdom and her genius-level intelligence.

"It's true... there's a quote that I don't remember who it comes from. It goes like this: It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it. Throughout history, commanders have described this feeling." Yukari pointed out throwing some historical knowledge into it. A classic Yukari move.

"I don't think... I can do this." Miho whispered, "It hurts too much, I... I can't take it. Every decision leads to more death. What if I make a mistake and one of you die."

"You can do it. Miho your the best commander Ooarai has and feeling hurt just means your not a psychopath. It's normal to hurt, we all hurt." Saori tried to cheer Miho up

A tear fell from one of her eyes " what if I crack... what if I break and fail everyone."

"You won't" came a confidant voice from Mako

"The way I see it... you only have three choices. You're the leader of the Ooarai Empire, our only chance to win this... heinous game. Without you Ooarai, Count, Yogurt and Jatkosota will all fall to those around us." Mako spoke to her, getting up to stand next to her.

"Option one, you give up. It's simple, choose a nation and give them all our land. Refuse to fight and probably get imprisoned by our occupiers in fear. Spend the next four and half years contemplating what ifs." Mako finished

"I... can't do that," Miho sobbed out loud "I hate that part of me wants to take the easy way out, but I chose to lead this nation instead of following my sister and mother! I would be failing everyone who followed me in the worse way possible." Miho angrily spat out the word of sister and mother. The betrayal of her sister selling her out to Pravda still relatively fresh in her mind.

The three other girls watched in horror as Mako continued on disregarding Miho's distressed state.

"Option 2, You break down after every battle in till you snap. Desperately trying to fight the meaningless death of your girls battle after battle. You try to fight through it and come out victorious but you'll be plagued with nightmares. You'll drift from battle to battle becoming a shell of yourself desperately trying to save everyone you can no matter what. Putting lives before the nation."

"I'd wish I was dead after four years of that" Miho spoke frazzled at the grimdark future from that option, "please tell me you have a better option" she begged

"Option 3, You embrace your title of Kaiserine, you make the deaths worth it, you make the ends worth the means. Embrace the titles of immortal Goddess of luck and the Kaiserine... Queen of her people. Make the rumours true, win this game so completely and utterly that nobody can question your divine rule and victory. Make every battle worth the deaths, make every enemy rue the day they crossed you. Make the girls follow you willingly into hell and fight in it for victory. Throw yourself so completely into this role that the mask that you've been wearing that's slowly cracked the further we went on becomes only another part of you. The road will be hard but you'll make the *ends justify the means."

"Won't I lose myself?" Miho asked raising her head for the first time since this began her brown eyes were red and puffy but held an air of determination in them. She had already made her decision even if she didn't know it yet. Her hands were clenched still but not because she was cracking but because she knew what needed to be done. Her brilliant tactical mind was already running with hundreds of plans.

The other girls which had watched in silence all unknowingly silently agreed that Mako could be scarily smart and manipulative when she wanted to be... or maybe it was because she seemed to not be affected by her low blood pressure in this world making her less lethargic.

"Don't worry Miporin. We'll make sure you won't lose yourself and we'll follow you anywhere you go!" Saori reassured her giving her a thumbs up.

Smiling Miho thought "so this is what family should feel like" shaking her head gently she looked up at Mako, then Saori, Yukari and finally Hana who all had a small shocked look on their face at her words.

"If I choose option 3 it won't work unless your girls decide to help me... I don't want to force you, girls, into following me."

"I wouldn't have offered it if I wasn't willing to do it myself" Mako pointed out

"You've helped me so much Miho. I'd follow you no matter what." Hana spoke to her sincerely

"You can count on me Miho" Yukari saluted comically.

" Me too Miporin, I'll follow you into making our mask's our reality, you'll need a proper PR manager anyway's," Saori spoke full of conviction

Miho then turned back to the table and spoke with confidence " Then it's decided, after today we will no longer be simple school students thrown into a cruel world full of war. We will be the saviours of the Ooarai Empire. The immortal crew that destroys our enemies blocking us. We will make the victory worth all the lives lost. We will avenge our dead.... we will avenge Duck team! I will make the ends justify the means no matter what! There will not be a possibility of us failing."

Miho's rousing impromptu speech had all the girls ready to jump into the bandwagon with her no matter the cost.... as the end would justify it.

"You know in the past people solidified these life-changing deals in blood. A cut to the hand and shaking with everyone else... it usually was for family only." Yukari pitched in after a few moments of silence.

Everyone looked at her wide-eyed in shock as she desperately tried to backpedal "Not that I was suggesting we do it or anything... I wouldn't sugge-"

"Let's do it" Miho's voice caught everyone off guard.

With wide eyes a shaky voice she continued " I'll go first if nobody has any objections"

The sound of Miho's knife, a Nahkampfmesser, leaving its sheath could be heard as she placed it against her hand. She could hear the thumping of her own heart in her ears as she slowly cut her hand open.

Passing the knife to Mako she repeated the action as each girl repeated the actions before they stood in front of each other.

"How do we go about this?" Hana asked

"I think the leader says something important" Saori pitched in

They all looked at Miho as she pondered for a few minutes before speaking.

"We... We shall fight together for all those who fall. We shall wear a mask that will become part of us for everyone. We shall be each other's family... our reason for this. To make the ends justify the means." Miho spoke reverting back into the shy person before halfway through it adopting her mask and solidifying her voice.

All the girls repeated it as one before pressing each other's hand on top of each other. They all stared at each other all feel as if this decision would affect them forever. It would change their life they all concluded on their own.

————————————————————————  
Word Ledger

C200: An Italian Early-war fighter. Although plagued with short-range for the plane it performed admirably into 1940-41.

G50: Another Italian Early-war fighter also plagued with short-range and some small problems that were quickly fixed. Performed admirably into 1940-41 where it began to be outdated.

Fiat B.R 20: An Italian bomber that was advanced for its period and was used during the entire war (mostly because they couldn't afford to build new ones).

10 O-clock: A military term that designates where the enemy by what position it would be in a clock. Example: 12 O-clock = front, 6 O-clock = back.

Fuselage: The main body of a plane usually contains all the important bits.

H35: Thickly armoured with a 47mm cannon it was designed as a cheap tank for the french to produce and send into their colonies. It was incredibly slow and had terrible crew comfort or crew placement with the commander having to do three jobs (Loader, Gunner, Commander and radio operator if they had a radio).

R35: Very similar to the H35 with two differences, one being its cosmetic looks and the second it was given to the infantry, not the "Cavalry". It had all the same statistics as the H35 and performed the same.

Queen St-Glorianna: This is how some soldiers begin to refer to Darjeeling as she begins to act and look more like a queen and not just a Commander. (similar to how Miho is referred to as Kaiserine) This all comes into effect after her power move where she removes the St-Glorianna council from the game (when she shoots Earl Grey).

Foxhole: A hole around 3-4 feet deep usually big enough to house 3 soldiers sometimes 4. They are usually distanced between each other and are mostly used to avoid the pitfall of a trench where a single artillery shell can wipe out a squad of troops.

Anti-tank Rifle: A rifle specifically made to shoot at tanks, sometimes used as a sniper rifle on soldiers. The bullet is usually the size of a 50. Cal, when penetrating the armour it showers the area with molten metal and the bullet shatters into multiple shrapnel projectiles.

The burden of Command: explained a bit in the story but that version is influenced by the characters. The burden of command is the weight of knowing that you are sending men to die in war. It is not fun to experience and can be how officers or generals break down or gain PTSD. Most generals describe a regret for sending their soldiers to die even if they didn't have a choice in the matter.

End's justify the Means: This is a more philosophical idea that is as long as the goal is admirable than the means to reach a said goal is justified. It is the opposite of the Means justifying the ends which argues that if you use evil means to gain your goal then you cannot justify your means. It's an interesting question in which I fall more on the End's justify the Means side of the argument which will be reflected in my work. I do encourage you to do some research into this topic as I only gave the briefest of definitions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for not posting chapters for the past two weeks or saying anything in the discord chat. I simply had too much going on in life with college (group projects, Tests) and getting a small cold that made the college work more of a pain. There was also a small problem where I lost all my work 2 weeks ago which sucked. In other news, this book has gotten 1000+ reads *cheering*.
> 
> So the plan going forward is that the next chapter will be split into two parts. The first part will be an interim chapter that will take a look into the real world and how people are reacting over there. The second part will be a chapter that contains the timeline for what's been happening so far to help with everything going on (this will al be next weekend). The one-shots will be posted as usual on Wednesdays.
> 
> I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter, personally, I loved this one, from the combat to the characters personal trouble(Miho) I enjoyed it all and had a blast writing it (when I could). Other than that I hope the Americans here had a good thanksgiving and all that. I hope you guys enjoyed this one as much as I did and sorry again for leaving without any news.
> 
> Signed Irishluck☘️
> 
> 2020/12/07


	18. Interlude: Verisimilitude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small chapter taking a look at the real world six month into the war.

Unkown Building  
Noriko  
20:50/8:50 pm (17.8 hours since the beginning of the game)

Row's and rows of beds almost all filled with girls laying as still as the dead with a contraption attached to their heads and a pole next to the bed with a bag filled with clear liquid attached to each girl's arm by a thin tube. The only sound in the building was the soft sound of the contraptions at work just loud enough to pierce the otherwise silent warehouse-like building.

Suddenly a shout pierced the room as one of the girls laying on one of the cots seemed to sit upright with seemingly no reason. The girl's hands flew to her face which was currently covered by the contraption, all senses seems to leave the girl as she gripped the contraption and threw it off her. It landed softly on the bed as the girl dressed in a volleyball team uniform desperately looked around. 

Seeing only all the other girls seemingly dead it sent the young girl into a panic attack. Breathing heavily she began muttering her teammate's names over and over again in a hysterical manner.

Her hands seem to be gripping her legs as memories of the fire licking at her legs pierced her memory. Noriko pulled her legs closer to herself as she began sobbing uncontrollably her mind lost in memories and thoughts as well as believing that she had killed her teammates mistaking her environment as a morgue.

A loud boom echoed throughout the warehouse as in reaction Noriko scrambled off the bed and under it. Her minds now lost in the memories of war, she clutched her ears as she curled into a fetal position and rocked back and forth softly.

Two nurses which had just opened the door loudly filled through the beds towards Noriko who only fell into more panic at the fast clicking of the heels. All she could remember is the sound of bullets hitting metal, screams seem to be all she can hear. The image of her Shinosuba and Taeko their heads lolled backwards, torso's practically gone. The image of the loader which had been a temporary replacement was staring at her with her dead cold accusing eyes.

The eye's shut close and her hands now tightly clutching at her ears, only the fact that she has short nails saving them from being cut. A soft calming voice seemed to be talking to her but she couldn't tell what noise was real and which was fake. Soft calming hands seem to softly hold her hands as they pulled them away from her ears.

"Shhhhh it's okay, your safe now. You're okay. Your back home." the soothing voice pierced her memories

Her eyes seem to relax for a few seconds before slowly opening, she stared into the calming blue pool of the nurse's eyes. Stopping her uncontrollable muttering that she hadn't even known she had started she stared around for a few more seconds. She was okay, she wasn't at war. Staring at the two nurses who were bent downwards she crawled forward and was wrapped into a hug by one of the nurses muttering about the poor things.

She balled into the women's white nurse shirt staining it with her tears as the women slowly got up with her and began carrying away from here. Away from her nightmare.

————————————————————————  
Noriko had stopped crying and had been explained what was going to happen in the next few days. She was going to be restricted to only a certain part of the ship as to not allow her to deliver messages to the ones still alive in the game.

She was also going to be monitored by the nurses and doctors as well as being visited by a psychologist to make sure her mental health didn't deteriorate.

She was currently in her new room, a fairly bland dorm room with a kitchen, living room and a bed. She was lying on her bed currently, her thoughts less chaotic than before, she was promised to be able to see her friends after they had been settled in as well. She was going to be brought dinner in a few minutes too, it seemed after dinner she could go see her friends... and that loader that had accompanied them.

The more Noriko brooded in her thoughts the less she blamed herself for the incident, after all, it wasn't her fault. She wasn't the one that had decided to go to Little Italia, to help Anzio and she wasn't the one who tasked her to attack the village and drive alongside her.

The more Noriko tried to rationalize how not at fault she was for the entire situation that led to her death the more she found a certain person at fault. Yes, some of the blame would lay with her she concluded, she had decided to go down that specific street after all.

But she hadn't been the one who had ordered her into the city or ordered her to attack. She wasn't the one responsible for thousands of Ooarai deaths. That girl may as well be working with kuromorimine, she has connected to them fundamentally after all. 

She had decided to embroil them with war right off the bat, she had decided they would attack Bonple for no gain, she was the one that had decided that the Duck team would have to sacrifice themselves for her selfish reasons. She was the head of the army... she could have decided at any point to simply not involve them in such a devastating war.

Miho was the bane of all Ooarai's existence she thought vehemently, it was the only conclusion her irrational mind could come up with. She wasn't the one that had saved Ooarai, no that was thanks to Anzu who put together the Senshado team to do it. She had even heard that the selfish girl hadn't wanted to join the team at first.

Noriko continued brooding in silence as the more she thought about it the more cemented she became on her belief that Miho wasn't looking out for Ooarai. In fact, in Noriko's mind, she was little more than a Kuromorimine dog following its master mindlessly at Ooarai's cost. She was at fault for all that befell Ooarai since she came into command.

As more and more happy senshado memories became twisted in this dark light any memory where Miho was in command or had Miho involved had become filled with anger and hate as she unknowingly ignored all of the good and focused on any small mistake the girl had made, anything to blame her for everything that's been happening. She probably even worked to make sure a volleyball club could never happen.

————————————————————————  
Secret facility, Ooarai  
Unknown Scientist  
21:00/9:00 pm (18 hours into the game)

In a small room on the mainland, 20 scientists were currently seated, the walls were covered in screens showing the battles and girls. Each scientist had a laptop in front of them set up on a small wooden desk, on these laptops were pages of girls with statistic's and readings as well as their DNA makeups. Each girl had highlighted words on a small ledger letting the scientist quickly read up on their personality and their DNA characteristics. One of the many highlighted words in these ledgers was whether a girl had the so-called warrior genes.

One scientist was observing an odd pair of girls, he had been tasked with observing the now-infamous Miho, in all moments. The only time he wouldn't be allowed to observe her was whenever she was washing up or getting undress at those points he was relegated to audio-only. Miho had apparently been detected as having the warrior gene unlike her sister who didn't have the warrior gene but who had more sociopathic tendencies... she was technically a sociopath. It was interesting seeing them react with their surroundings because of how alike they're genetic makeup is. 

He had also been observing those around Miho as well, Saori, Mako, Hana and Yukari. All interesting individuals each with their own unique traits. From the empathetic and charismatic Saori, she also has a natural talent in the PR department. Mako was a genius, there was no other way to describe the girl, she was incredibly sharp, could memorize anything she reads with her photographic memory as well as learn at incredible speed. The fact that this girl had so far only been the driver and hadn't been made president of the school is probably because of her lethargic nature. The girl had a pretty mean manipulative streak, subtly influencing those around her. Hana was an interesting girl, from a high-class family, she seemed to show signs of the warrior gene and got excited in combat, an odd reaction to war. Definitely, something to jot down.

Yukari was an odd individual full of random historical facts especially tanks and capable of analyzing a situation with a scary speed. She was incredible at spotting things that looked out of place and were an extraordinary survivalist, almost having a natural knack for such a thing. She seems to have some antisocial issues although being surrounded by her friends seems to have alleviated those problems.

And finally Miho, the leader of the group that has somehow managed to gather such talented people and has clear leader traits. She emiliated great leaders like Napoleon, Alexander and Ceaser. The ability to surround herself by such great people is definitely one of her strong points. She is a tactical genius having been trained for tactics and strategy by her mother from a young age combined with her clear natural skills. She has the warrior gene and has been leading her entire country successfully. She has formed worthy alliances and been dealing with some cutthroat politics. She only has to big traits holding her back even if theywere an advantage at the same time, she gets crushed by guilt to easily and she needs some more confidence.

The scientist looked at what he had written for those for individuals. Their dossiers all had a fair amount written in them. They had been incredibly interesting to study, they had changed so much within the first six months of being in the game. It was fascinating how they reacted to everything going around them, from gaining power akin to a world leader to being at war.

It was honestly amazing how simply dangling the carrot of being declared the victors in this game had set the wheels in motion for every one of these leaders to start a war akin to the world wars. They're was so much research to be had by that simple train of thought, so many new theories on the horizon. This game would revolutionize the world of science, revolutionize our understanding of human nature and the ideologies that shape our world.

The scientist mentally chuckled at all the potential that this simple game had. There was one individual though that the scientist loved to study above all the other ones. The young queen of Ooarai, Miho. Such an interesting person, she has this air about her that makes you want to root for her, hell he was a simple scientist just studying the students like lab rats but she somehow had him enraptured with her progress having him silently rooting for her and hoping she comes out of this twisted test better than before. 

The size of her file alone was bigger than all her friends combined. It was amazing how each of their files connected back to her in some vital way, even girls from other schools had been influenced by her in some way. Interestingly enough she seemed to be the pin holding it all together in her circle of friends. She was even the pin that seem to hold the confederation between the schools in her nation and had turned it into one single Empire. It was simply amazing how quickly that young girl had established herself as the head of state, the ruling voice of reason. Accidentally too, she had practically stumbled into it with her instincts. The girl wasn't even truly using her skills, her power to its fullest capacity. She had a way of charming individuals, powerful individuals, a way to make them all see her like friends. That girl could walk into a room full of strangers and walk out with each one of them thinking their her best friend. 

If her natural charisma wasn't enough to distinguish her among her peers then her natural tactical and strategic mind did, it was simply amazing to listen in to her plans even if she sometimes struggled with putting them into words. She was such a fascinating subject it was amazing.

The scientist who was wearing some headphones perked up as he began hearing Miho talk with her friends blaming herself for their deaths. Bringing a pen to his lips he rested it there as he pulled his notepad onto his lap. He stared at his screen as he flicked it to the scene as he watched. This is where she would either crumble and fail as a subject or she shall rise stronger than before... hopefully.

The scientist began jotting down everything he could as he watched the scene, he heard her and her friends talking and he smirked as he wrote more notes down. This changed quite a bit, he didn't expect them to reach this stage so quickly maybe another 3 months down the line but it seem that the "duck team" whoever they are that died had a bigger impact than just the new people.

He jotted more notes down, perhaps ideology will come into effect sooner rather than later he mused as Miho and her friends finished up with their conversation and seem to jump back into planning.

Placing his notepad and pen down his hands flew over the key board doing multiple things at once. Notifying his superiors that the subjects had some interesting new developments, he also downloaded a small clip of the recorded conversation and attached it to the file before sending it off.

Leaning back he simply listened in to them plan, he had never been more grateful than to accept a position at this company. The fact that some morals had to be stretched for the advancement of science didn't phase the man, they had been trained to be unphased by these types of morally grey experiments. He couldn't believe how the CEO had convinced the senshado establishment in Japan to allow them to do this, he imagined a hefty bribe had occurred.  
————————————————————————  
Ooarai High School  
Unkown Student  
Unkown time

Their was a group of girls huddled around a tv screen in one of their dorms, they were watching with rapt attention at all that had been going on in this world. It was like watching a movie or a play as each scene would play with the same air as a movie or a tv show.

"This has got to be the best thing on TV right now" one of the girls exclaimed as her fingers dipped into a bowl of popcorn and retrieved the buttery treat.

"Definitely, its got everything someone would want. You have drama, action, adventure, horror everything is in here and the best part. You can go back in time to watch different battles if you want." one of the girl exclaimed with awe.

"My favourite parts are the spies" the second to last girl giggle

"How do you think are friends are doing? The two that went in." the last girl who was sitting on the bed staring at the television intently.

"I'm sure they're having a fun time." the first girl answered.

The girl sitting on the bed and looked to the side, on a computer screen was the school's newspaper clipping claiming victory after victory for Ooarai. Their were posters being handed out for free from the ones with heroic photos of Ooarai girls fighting or enjoying their time. To some degrading their enemies.

The girl felt that within a day the entire school environment had fundamentally changed, everything revolved around this new game. The whole school had jumped on this bandwagon and the girl had a small feeling that they were being studied. She shook her head gently, it wasn't like she was in a book or movie. Nothing bad would happen.

Disregarding her thoughts she went back to listening to the show as a spy popped onto the TV. The school had gotten very strict with who could enter or exit, couldn't let this information leak to the public. The girl had a rifle slung across her back as she ran down an alley.

————————————————————————

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Small note before the Author note: 8 virtual months=1 real life day, 10 virtual days = 1 real life hour)
> 
> I'm gonna start this Authors note by just saying that I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with this chapter. It's incredibly short but I just don't know what more I could really add without making the chapter feel repetitive so I'll be counting on the readers feedback in terms of how good this chapter was... or how bad it was.
> 
> Other than that this chapter introduces a few elements I'm excited to explore and hear your theories on whats going on. Some sketchy sounding scientist, clear after-effects from the virtuel world and the students watching the virtuel world like its a show. Let me know what you think is happening or any comments you have on this chapter. *bonus points if you figure out what the title means*
> 
> I hope you enjoyed (sorry for the late chapter sunday was my moms birthday), I'll be posting the timeline chapter later today or early tomorrow attached to that chapter will be some small updates to the map, mainly how the maps changed (territory changes and other stuff.) Hope you guys have a good week, good luck to those in Uni and college if your like me exams are this week (don't worry the updates wont be effected).
> 
> Signed Irishluck☘️  
> 2020/12/14


	19. Timeline (first six months)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A streamline of the events in the past six in book months.

Pre-game  
-2 weeks before the match ( Ooarai followed by Jatkosota, Count and Yogurt declared themselves as their own nation) This was when the match was announced with all its rules.

-A sudden surge in school applications to the Airsoft and Sensahdo clubs as well as new students arriving at the school. 

-1 week before the game started Saunders signed a non-aggression pact and a promise to supply St-Gloriana.

-half a week before the start of the game: An alliance between Anzio and Ooarai is born, being the first official alliance between two nations. This alliance was Named the Ooarai-Anzio Central Power Alliance.

-Next day an alliance was born between the nations of Ooarai Empire, Anzio Empire, Kuromorimine Reich and the Imperial Sun.

-Sometime before the end of the two weeks the Confederation(Maginot, BC and Waffles) signed an alliance with the Commonwealth (St-Gloriana, Maple and Koala). Darjeeling also decides on building a royal navy to rule the waves.

-A day before the start of the game, Saunders creates the first intelligence agency.

Pre-War

-As soon as they entered the virtual world Maho began preparations to declare war against the commonwealth.

-Darjeeling orders for the majority of the troops to be evacuated within 2 months.

-Rukuriri is given leadership in Egypt with Rosehip commanding a group of crusaders.

-During the 1 month of peace a treaty was signed that stated Pravda would join Kuromorimine in a war of aggression against the Commonwealth in return for east Little Poland (Bonple land) as well as an agreement for Kuromorimine to not get involved in any war between Ooarai and Pravda.

-A defensive line of bunkers trenches and forts have been built on the border with Pravda in Little Romania and Little Finland *Mostly south Little Finland* with the goal of having them be all completed in a one-year time frame.

-Small skirmishes happened between Jatkosota (Ooarai Empire) and Pravda on the border of Little Finland.

-Saunders steps up it's spying on foreign nation only having trouble establishing a spy ring in the Ooarai Empire and the Anzio Empire

-The Prewar finished with the Kuromorimine Reich and Ooarai Empire declaring war on the Commonwealth and Invading Little Poland. The Confederation joined in a day later and United Saunders Alliance began sending materials to the Commonwealth. Pravda joined a week later against the Commonwealth in a separate war in which the Confederation also joined to protect the Commonwealth.

Bonple Campaign Feb 1st - March 10th

\- Maho's operation codenamed Operation Weiss which called for a four-prong attack, one from Ooarai in the south towards Little Warszawa, one in the center from Kuromorimine and two in the North pinching Little Danzig and cutting off the rest of Bonple's forces.

-Because of the Early war most armies are considerably smaller than they would be a few months later. With Ooarai force being 550,000 strong (with 50,000 volunteers from Anzio), Kuromorimine having a force of 800,000 strong and Bonple having only 600,000 forces in Little Poland. Over 400,000 troops had already been evacuated and another 150,000 would be evacuated during the invasion.

-The border battles in the south and center were Total victories for both Ooarai and Kuromorimine with the battle in the north being considered Pyrrhic victories.

-Within a week most of Little Poland would have fallen to advancing enemy forces with two main pockets appearing. The North Pocket with Little Danzig being the main city in the area and the Centre Pocket with Warsaw being the major city and objective. (note Pravda stopped advancing once they reached their agreed-upon positions.

-The five main battles during the first week were as follow, the Battle of Little Poznan (Feb 2), Battle of Little Lodz (Feb 4), Battle of Little Bydgoszcz (Feb 3), Battle of Little Radom (Feb 5) and Battle of Little Lublin (Feb 6).

-The siege of Little Danzig began on February 7th and ended on March 10th and the siege of Little Warszawa began on February 10th and ended on February 16th.

-A small engagement between Ooarai Empire forces and Pravda forces in Little Lemberg resulted in a stunning victory for the surprised Count forces.

-A small naval engagement outside of Little Danzig resulted in a minor victory for St-Gloriana.

-Bonple Campaign finished with the loss of Little Danzig by the Commonwealth and therefore losing the entire region of Little Poland to Pravda, Kuromorimine and Ooarai

\- (rounded) Casualties:  
Ooarai: 55,000 killed or wounded in action, 200 tanks out of 4,000 destroyed and 200 destroyed aircraft out of 2,500 aircraft

Anzio: 5,000 killed or wounded in action, 100 tanks out of 1,000 tanks destroyed and 100 aircraft destroyed out of 1,200.

Kuromorimine: 75,000 killed or wounded, 800 our of 5,000 tanks destroyed and 500 aircraft destroyed out of 3,000 (loss of tanks would result in a delay in the invasion of the Confederation).

Bonple: 165,000 killed or wounded in action, 250,000 surrendered, 45,000 under command of Anne who snuck away, all 2,000 tanks destroyed and all 1,000 aircraft destroyed. Commander Jajaka who led the Bonple forces also died.

-The first war crime was committed during this invasion. 

-The Saunders President was assassinated by Alisa (her agents) on Feb 24. Kay is sworn in as the new temporary president on Feb 28th with restricted powers.

-Feb 21st a combined intelligence agency between Anzio empire and Ooarai empire called the Imperial Center of Intelligence. Creating tighter bonds between both nations and combining their counter-espionage and espionage agencies.

Phoney War ( March 10th- May 26th)

\- A lull in the war and a newspaper clipping from Saunders high quoting it as a phoney war which caught on.

\- While the Confederation and Kuromorimine Reich forces had a tense stare off, The Ooarai Empire had a few weeks of relaxation.

-March 21 Miho received some critical information from Bonple commander and soldier named Anne who gave her a letter revealing the treaty between Pravda and Kuromorimine that stuck Ooarai out to dry.

-Some naval engagements happened during these times with Submarines sinking convoys going to Little Britain and a few surface engagements with only a handful won by the Kuromorimine Reich.

-March 24 two thousand prisoners (Bonple soldiers and political prisoners) were shot in a forest by Pravda forces.

-March 28 a rebellion in Little Rome was quickly put down by Anchovy and her forces with some help from Miho.

-Eclair pushes a tiny bit into Little Germany with a small offensive operation capturing some land.

-Bellwall armies' grit is tested as they are constantly bombarded by artillery resulting in some soldiers cracking.

-Training of new recruits surged during this area as very little equipment has been lost.

-Lots of spying occurs during this time period as both sides try to gain every little advantage.

\- April 18The usurped commander Madelaine contacts Maho to make a deal with them to betray the rest of the Confederation in return for her command and Maginot keeping their land.

-St-Gloriana begins mobilizing their troops across their massive empire.

-April 25 Darjeeling executes the council and their leader Earl Grey and establishes herself as the queen of St-Gloriana removing the restrictions the council had been implementing on her and hurting the war effort.

-Medals are finally done being created in most nations and are given to those who qualify for them creating a boost to morale in all the armies around the world.

-Operation Alpino is first conceived on May 2nd as Anzio plans to join the war on the side of Kuromorimine and hopes to take the mountains (little alpines) with the help of Ooarai's expeditionary force.

-The bonple army who have joined Ooarai have been sent into old Bonple territory to defend it against any potential Pravda attack.

Operation Alpino (May 26-present)

\- A three-pronged attack onto the Maginot's first defensive line with the planes to take all of the mountains in a few months in a surprise attack. As to not let Maginot forces dig into the mountains and create an unbreakable defence.

-May 26 battles erupted throughout the entire front from Little Switzerland all the way to the Mediterranean sea. In the North, Carpaccio led her veteran forces to victory and began jutting south. In the south, Miho took the first town on the coast with very few casualties and began her advance into the mountains slowed down by the Maginot forces who fought in a rearguard manner. In the centre, a bit more trouble engaged the two wings of the offensive with Anchovy having to break through a tough first line of defences and Anzu broke the Maginot forces in the south and was also slowed down by a cunning commander who was acting wildly different compared to the others.

-May 27 all airfield in the local area was destroyed negating any air support the Maginot forces could have gotten and giving air superiority to Ooarai and Anzio.

-May 28 All of the Duck team except for Akebi died which resulted in Miho starting to crack at the news of personal friends from the senshado team dying and Miho blamed herself for their deaths. Noriko the leader of the Duck team blamed Miho for her and her team's gruesome death.

-May 29 Anzu meets the spy/assassin Ichika and receives crucial information which she sends to Miho to assess while also recruiting Ichika.

-June 1st The peninsular Army is sent to Little Morrocco to invade South Little Spain. Carpaccio is grounded to a halt thanks to exhaustion and supply problems due to the Little Geneva bulge which the supplies must go through.

-May 26 to June 1st Erwin fights two Maginot divisions in a series of battles down a 24 km valley and destroys both divisions resulting in 60,000 prisoners.

-June 5th Miho and her team decided to commit themselves fully to this virtual world (not that they think of it as a virtual world) and to put on the masks necessary to make this war worth it.

-June 5th, The north forces under Carpaccio's command have driven 25 km into Maginot lines and reached Little Annecy. Center army under Anchovy has driven 42 km into Maginot lines. Center army under Anzu have driven 50 km into Maginot lines and finally, the South army under Miho has driven 12 km into Maginot lands and has encircled Little Monaco.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this little Timeline. I haven't been able to finish the updates to the map but I will have them both in the next Oneshot, the Next chapter, Update this chapter to have it and will have it posted on the discord. Anyway's this hopefully streamlines the events a bit more and is a bit of a refresher on what has been going on. Have a great week guys.
> 
> Signed Irishluck☘️  
> 2020/12/16


	20. Chapter 20 Ticking Clock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Only two day's are in this chapter and it is short but it does set up for some *hopefully* epic moments further down the line.

Note I make use of some radio slang for certain conversations over radio. All radio terms/slang used can be found at the end of this chapter with what they mean.

Little Lyon (100km behind the frontlines)  
Choux  
June 7th

A young girl sipped at her drink as she overlooked the map depicting where every enemy unit was. So far everything was going off without a hitch... mostly. She was quite proud of her plan, it called for a slow retreat to the edge of the mountain ranges letting the enemy have to deal with all those logistical problems that come from travelling through mountains before a killing blow would be administered after her enemy had exhausted themselves against her fortified line.

The only risks with her plan is that the fortified line she would make her stand at wasn't quite ready with sections of the southern end and northern end being incomplete although close to completion. Her plan had even been approved by the Head commander Madeleine and that girl was the expert in defensive strategies in Senshado.

The only hiccup in the plan so far was the southern Ooarai army which had speared deep into her territory almost halfway to the second line of defences and also which had encircled and bypassed Little Monaco. According to their spies and her studies on the Ooarai army in Bonple, they should have focused on eliminating the pocket of troops and taking the port, it would certainly help the supply situation. She wondered why Miho had decided to bypass the city, it wasn't like her, a fleeting thought that they had found out her plan flew into her mind before she shook her head and dismissed it, all personnel were supposed to have destroyed any trace of their orders.

Other than the unexpected movements in the south the reports said that they were slowing down the other armies and causing quite a lot of casualties across the front. Although she hadn't been expecting Anchovy and Miho to take to the field personally.

Her forces hadn't even been fully deployed yet having been kept in reserve to keep them fresh for the tough defence to come. Spies which had been a small problem had been dealt with by their anti-spying mesures.

She had even heard news that the Little Spain front is gearing up for another offensive to breakthrough near Little Barcelona, the goal is to break the weaker partner of the Anzio empire. St-Gloriana was supposed to be joining them in this endeavour with an invasion from the south.

The girl brought the cup to her lips once more as she drank some more of her coffee before glancing once more at the map. She was mildly annoyed at the casualties that had been taken during this tactical withdrawal to the edge of the mountains and their fort line. They had taken twice as many casualties than she had wanted and had lost more armour than was reasonable, the lethality and experience of the Ooarai army and Anzio Expeditionary army were not exaggerated in the slightest. She simply hoped that there wouldn't be any more hiccups with the plan.

She pushed the little figures on the map showcasing her theater of operations, each figure represented a division worth of troops, around 10,000 soldiers, and their position on the map. There were enemy figures as well but they clearly weren’t as accurate in terms of position and amount.

Her black hair cascaded over her face as she shook her head slightly and stared at the defensive line stretching 385 km of mountains and hills before glancing back to her armies fighting at the frontline. They needed to continue they're fighting retreat for another month at minimum. That would give them time to finish the defensive line and the enemy would have fallen too far into her trap to ever have hope of recovering from it.

————————————————————————  
Near Little Nice  
Miho  
June 8th  
'Race to Nice'

Miho had half her body out of the commander's hatch, her hands spread out in front of her gripping both ends of her map. A simple 10 km stretch of land was all that was between her forces and the city of Little Nice. She had left a very small force commanded by Rabbit team and Mallard team to simply hold the hills surrounding Little Monaco until Erwin's forces reached them and then they would take the coastal city. It should help with the growing supply problems that piercing deep into enemy lines inadvertently caused.

The rest of her forces were stretched over 13km with Erwin's forces the furthest north, soon to be replaced with some Anzio mountaineers and some reserves from the Ooarai army. The Anzio mountaineers had been stretched thin already but she simply needed them to hold the mountains in the north, something relatively easy for a unit dedicated to mountain warfare.

Erwin and her forces would be using some back roads and small paths to reach Little Monaco, meanwhile Miho and her forces would be pressing forward as quickly as possible and attempt to take Little Nice. She was hoping for a quick and ruthless assault to take the city, the reality was that it was most likely going to be a slow and bloody attempt to take the city. One could always hope she reminded herself.

Rolling the map up she reached down into the tank and tucked it behind her seat taking a quick glance around at the girls inside the tank. Yukari was currently leaning against the loader's hatch, her head leaning against one of her hands as she quietly slept trying to catch some sleep before any action after she had taken the night shift while Miho slept, acting as the temporary eyes and ears of the tank. Hana was leaning forward, a piece of cloth in her hands as she cleaned the well used sights, a single flower of hers was tucked underneath her seat, a beautiful Iris that was clearly being well kept, a beautiful white flower with its vibrant green stem in the rather dull grey paint of the Panzer.

In the front of the tank she saw Mako driving the tank, her low blood pressure hadn't followed her into this world resulting in a much more active Mako who was discussing something with Saori, something about military phonetics. One of her rare small smiles was on her face as her eyes peered in the drivers port and stared ahead. Saori meanwhile had one hand on the headphones which were pressed against her ear and the other was browsing through her radio manual and some other book that Miho wasn't sure what it was about. She was leaning backwards as she discussed something with Mako, an easygoing smile adorning her face as the tank rumbled along the road.

Miho smiled a bit at them all before she schooled her expression into something more serious and popped back out of the hatch. The tank was one of the rare places where they could still act like the high-school students they were... well at least pretend that they were still high-school students. Outside of the tank they had to act like they had agreed upon, as the aces and saviours of Ooarai reassuring each girl in their army that they would be okay and safe as long as they followed their lead.

As her head popped back out she scanned the environment around them, the rolling hills to her right could be perfect for some ambushes. Although there was already a convoy of tanks and trucks up ahead commanded by Amaryllis spearheading the offensive they hadn't encountered anything more than some light resistance. They were about 15 minutes ahead of them as Miho's convoy had to roll more slowly due to the lack of trucks needed to transport all the infantry, they had to stay at walking speed.

The offensive was split into three spearheads following three highway's to Little Nice and all were within 10 minutes of each other. The last highway *10 km above the most northward spearhead* had been deemed too risky to attempt to breakthrough with the limited troops positioned there and would instead be slowly moving up to secure the flank.

A quick glance behind showed the infantry marching beside the two dozen tanks and a dozen trucks. They had their weapons pointed downwards and seemed to be rather haggard as they had been walking for the past 4 hours since they had set out this morning. Although they had been alternating the people in the trucks with the ones out of the trucks to try and keep some of the troops as fresh as possible. They would be stopping for a small break in the next hour before continuing onward. It was important to allow the troops to eat and replenish their strength, overworking them would only get them killed.

Scanning the left side of the convoy she stared at the cliff which was only 30 meters from the road and dropped steeply down towards the ocean with its rolling waves crashing into the cliffs, the smell of salt and the calming breeze from the ocean washing over her. In front of her she grimaced slightly as she saw the collapsed tunnel up ahead that went through the small mountain, the rubble had tumbled out of the entrance to it and forced Miho and her forces to take a detour to the left around the mountain.

The road split to the left shortly before the tunnel and the convoy gently rolled off the highway onto the paved road. Glancing in her binoculars she scanned the horizon finding a village further along the road. With a small fort just beyond the village, the fort was peppered with blast marks and rubble that gathered at the bottom. She couldn't see it from here but she knew that the walls were filled with bullet holes as well as what was left of the defenders of the small fort.

Amaryllis had contacted her ahead of time when she had encountered this fort, it hadn't given them too much trouble as it was a coastal fort, made for stopping naval invasions and not a few dozen tanks and battle hardened infantry who have fought in forts before.

As Miho slinked down the hatch until she was below it and she tilted her head up towards the sky suppressing a yawn as she admired it, dotted with clouds and the sun filtering in and out of the clouds casting shadows on them.

"Miho! I got something on the radio," ducking into the tank Miho saw Saori fiddling with the radio "Amaryllis got ambushed, the bridge was blown and it took out one of their Panzer IVs and a truck. Her force is split in half across the creek"

"Patch me in Saori! Alert the rest of the convoy that we'll be moving at the double" Popping back out of the hatch she rested her hand on her microphone, Saori's affirmation being drowned out in the background of her thoughts which were racing a mile a minute.

She knew immediately when she had been patched in as the now familiar sounds of explosions and gunfire filled her ears. She heard a voice shouting in the background commanding troops.

"This is *Overlord (Miho's radio codename), Get me *Reaper Actual (Amaryllis code) now!" She barked into the microphone in the background Saori's voice reverberated inside the tank as she echoed Miho's orders to the rest of the convoy.

She heard some yelling in the background of the radio before a voice she recognized as Amaryllis broke through "This is Reaper Actual, things have gone to hell over here. We're gonna need some reinforcements ASAP!"

"Reaper what’s going on over there. Over."

"The convoy got ambushed as we started moving into the town, they blew up a bridge and we've lost a Panzer IV as well as a truck full of girl's. Were trying to set up a defensive position and push into some of the houses. Over. "

"Dig in were on our way on the double ETA 15-20 Mikes(minutes). Call in Warhammer's (artillery unit) support if need be otherwise hold your current positions as best as possible.Over"

"*Solid copy Overlord. *Out"

Miho leaned her head backwards as she could hear Amaryllis ordering her troops around. The tank had just kicked it into cruising speed as it began speeding forward right after some of the infantry walking next to the tank had jumped onto the back of it.

"We're hitching a ride to the battle Kaiserin . No way are you gonna leave us behind." One of the girls that were currently sitting on the engine deck of the panzer spoke to her.

A glance behind her confirmed that this same scenario had been recreated for the whole convoy with girls hanging off the side of some of the trucks and on the backs of the tanks. Although technically against procedure as it made the infantry ridiculously vulnerable but the more girls she could bring the more girls that are with Amaryllis she could save.

Noticing the Skull patch on the side of the girls uniform confirmed that she was part of the Reaper division which was personally commanded by Amaryllis.

"Let us go save the others" she responded to the soldier, a nod of respect to the soldiers who could have chosen to walk/jog their way over there.

The tank lurched forward along with the entire convoy leading it through the small coastal village and past the small coastal fort that still had dead Maginot girl's inside of it and bullet holes littering the wall.

She heard background chattering on the radio as Amaryllis began calling in some artillery. Explosions could be heard in the distance as Miho clutched her binoculars in her hand. She heard some soldiers whispering behind her as she made sure to keep her back straight and her head staring forward.

The convoy exited the village and immediately Miho brought the binoculars to her face, peering into them she began scanning the horizon. A bay was what met most of Miho's vision as the cliffs lowered into simple beaches and the road curved along the bay. In the middle of the curve was a small town with a small part of the right side of the town split by a small river that was more like a creek going down it.

Miho's tank followed the road as it curved to the right and forced her to shift to the left to continue scanning the town. A familiar whistling noise could be heard in the distance followed by an explosion which rose out of the town rubble being thrown into the air. Close to the explosions Miho saw some of Amaryllis's forces fighting within the town. A Panzer 38T could be seen on one of the roads firing into a building with its machine-gun, some infantry nearby hiding behind a wall as they fought back against the Maginot forces. They're were a few ash black smoke pillars rising out of the town into the sky.

Glancing across the waters Miho found a dozen tanks rolling towards the town alongside a few trucks behind the enemy forces she found a set of artillery pieces at the top of the hill firing into the town. As well as some artillery shots coming in from Warhammer, grimacing as another set of explosions rocked the earth.

Grabbing her microphone she spoke to the entire convoy "All units press on the gas we gotta get to Reaper's Convoy as quickly as possible"

A chorus of affirmation echoed throughout the headphones as Mako shifted gears and put the tank into full speed. The rest of the tanks and trucks following close behind them as Miho reached for her mic once more and began contacting Amaryllis.

"Reaper Actual this is Overlord I need a *sitrep. over." Miho's voice was calm and steady as she fully switched into her commander mode.

"This is Reaper Actual, We've been surrounded and pushed out of our original position. We've set ourselves up in the south-east of the town. The enemies are hammering our position with artillery fire and we've lost half of our tanks. We're running low on ammo and have multiple wounded. *How Copy, Over."

Amy's use of the how copy worried Miho just a slight bit as it hinted at some radio problems they may have encountered earlier with the artillery units.

"Good Copy, we have the town in our sights and have spotted the enemy light artillery across the bay on a small hill west of the town. */break/. I need your exact 20 of your position in the town. How Copy. Over"

"Good Copy Overlord, Our 20 is at the smaller bridge south of the main bridge and some roads called pins. We’re just short of the beach. *Over"

Scanning the locations she found the bridge she was talking about as well as their defensive lines. She also saw a few squads of Maginot troops moving up as they attacked The surrounded Ooarai girls.

"Roger. I've spotted you in my binoculars. We're about *10 Mikes from your position, just hold on a little bit longer and we'll be there. Out"

Switching over to the inner comm of the tank a simple move of her finger to the other mic on the other side of her throat Miho spoke to her crew.

"Saori, I'm gonna need you to call some artillery strikes onto the hill across the bay where the enemy artillery is, after that man the hull mounted machine-gun and shoot anything that isn't wearing our uniform" Miho continued fluidly as she addressed Hana next " Hana wake up Yukari, make sure the guns loaded with some High explosive shots and that everything is working properly."

Not waiting for any confirmation she moved on to the last member that was awake.

"Mako keep the tank moving at all cost until we’re inside the city, once inside make sure we're moving at an infantry’s pace."

"Permission to fire at will" Hana spoke in the same calm tone as always

"Granted" was the curt reply from Miho

"Hey Miporin, where's the hill?" Soari's confused voice filtered into Miho's ears

"Pop out of your hatch for a second" She ordered her

Miho reached behind her seat and grabbed an MP38(early production of MP40) and placed it on her lap. Although not the best shot she could still hold her own with it. She slipped in the magazine and pulled the bolt back before pushing it upwards locking it in its safety mode.

Seeing Saori's hatch swing open and her ginger hair pop out followed by her head. She glanced around getting her bearings as her hair flew all around her thanks to the speed the tank was going at some of it hitting her in the face as she swiped it away.

"See that hill across the bay where some white puffs of smoke are?" Miho asked Saori

"Yeah, that's the artillery then" Saori responded using her own mic and pulling out a map as she began figuring out the coordinates.

The column was getting closer and closer to the town, they were 4 minutes away now as Miho heard Saori transmitting the coordinates for the artillery strike.

"This is *Overlord 1-1, *Warhammer 2-1, how copy over" Saori's voice echoed within her headset thanks to the fact that she was keyed into the channel.

Glancing down at Saori she saw Saori had her map laid across to her left, held by one hand that was pointing at something on it as her other hand held a phone attached to the radio inside the tank.

"Good Copy Overlord 1-1 over" was the reply from some girl back at the artillery base

"Warhammer 2-1 stand by for *fire mission over"

"Copy, Warhammer 2-1 standing by for fire mission over"

"Warhammer 2-1 requesting fire mission at grid coordinates Hotel Uniform 2684169, how copy over"

"Good copy, this is Warhammer 2-1, fire mission on Hotel Uniform 2684169"

The conversation all happened in the background, Miho kept an ear out in case anything important came up. A quick scan of the road leading to the town signified that it was clear of any signs of enemies. They were barely 4-5 minute from the town now and about 9-10 minutes from Amy's surrounded troops.

"Shots fired, *ETA 5 Mikes Over"

"Copy Warhammer 2-1, Overlord 1-1 Out"

Five minutes and those guns would be silenced, Miho mused. She wished the shells could be landed faster but they were firing from over 5km away.

Miho could see the buildings getting ever closer, scanning the windows for any signs of enemies, any hint that they were waiting for them. In the meantime, Saori had re-entered the tank closing the hatch behind her as she manned the hull machine-gun and waited for any sign of enemies.

Everything happened in a flash, something that Miho was becoming quite acclimated to as two shells flew towards them, one shearing some equipment strapped to the side of the tank and the other one landing in front of the tank kicking up pieces of asphalt. A hail of bullets quickly followed pinging off the tank, the tracers flying off into the distance as Miho yelled into her Microphone.

"Contacts 12 O'clock" She yelled to the entire convoy

"Do not stop at any cost, infantry disembark as soon as we have reached the town" She continued into her mic.

A few cracks from rifles and the soft Ratata of a MP40 could be heard from behind her a bit to her left and right as the infantry that had hitched a ride on her tank were returning fire. Scanning the town she found a stream of tracers coming from a house, reaching to her internal mic she spoke.

"Hana second house to our right, slam an HE round into it, Saori Spray the machine gun towards the left building"

The cannon fired as the gun recoiled slightly into the tank a puff of smoke leaving the barrel and obscuring her vision for just a few seconds. A small burst of machine gun fire sprayed to the left cutting down two soldiers running past the building and falling into a ditch held by the Maginot girls. The shell slammed into the building throwing rubble all over the place and causing a part of the building to collapse.

A short scream and a glance behind her showed one of the Ooarai girls on the tank falling over onto the engine of the tank with a bullet wound in her shoulder as she tried to muffle her scream.

Another burst of bullets hit the tank and glanced off, an explosion behind her informed her of one of the tanks or trucks having been hit. They were closing in to the town only a hundred meters left as the cannon fired once more hitting an anti-tank position, the metal contraption being shred to pieces alongside the 4 girls manning the position.

She could see the Maginot girls start running out of the ditches alongside the roads and from the makeshift barricades they had been using as cover. The girls were retreating deeper into the city and were beginning to abandon their defensive positions on the outskirts of the city.

That didn't mean that the gunfire had slowed or the girls in the windows had stopped shooting at her and her troops traveling 40km/h on the road as they blitzed towards them, just that a tactical withdrawal had already begun.

"Saori, hit that machine gun position on the left side!" She ordered as she watched one of the machine guns still operating in the ditch fire a stream of bullets into one of the trucks forcing it to swerve to the side.

Glancing backwards she saw the truck crash into the ditch and the soldiers in the back start disembarking a few being shot as they did. The rest of the convoy was still relatively intact with only a few trucks having been destroyed or badly damaged and forced to stop on the side of the road. Same with the tanks with most of the girls on the tanks resting their guns on the turret and using it as cover. Although clearly the girls on the tanks had taken more casualties as at least one of the girls was injured or killed and on average two of them were down.

50 meters, Miho told herself as she continued shouting guidances into the microphone to her team. Spotting a long barrel coming from a window and a shot from the gun that seemed to knock one of her trucks she switched her microphone to the convoy's channel.

"Watch the fourth building to the right, second story. Anti tank rifle in the first window take it out!"

"Just a few more meters girls remember once we reach the buildings infantry disembark and begin clearing the immediate area just like in Little Warsaw. Let's get this done quickly. We need to relieve our Sisters." She spoke into the microphone the small pep talk at the end rolling off her easily as confidence and determination exuded from her.

Her hair whipped around her face as she continued to scan for any immediate threat, the cannon kicking back once more as the white smoke from the gunpowder obscured her vision for a few seconds. Her back was straight as she kept reminding herself to act like the Goddess of War that her troops viewed her as, at the same time she remembered training sessions with her mother as she rested her elbows on the commanders hatch.

"Remember while commanding in your tank you represent the Nishizumi family. You must exude confidence, Elegance and an almost noble quality to yourself . You must be like a European king resting on his horse the image of royalty and bravery or be like the Daimyo on his horse in control at all times and never shaken." Miho's mother had told her during a strict lecture after she had failed to command in Middle school.

Shaking her head she noticed that she was scowling just a tiny bit and tried to concentrate herself on the battle while schooling her face into that of a leader, her mother may not have been the best mother but she did have some valid lessons whenever she would lecture her.

Scolding herself she scanned the battlefield and ordered Hana to shoot into an alleyway to block a position for the enemy to retreat. Just as the tank reached the edge of the town, just a dozen meters away from the buildings, when Miho noticed an anti-tank gun poke out the large shop window which was shattered, it was aiming at them.

"Saori shoot at the shop in front of us at the end of the street!" Miho desperately ordered Saori

"Hana hit that shop with a shot and the mg on the turret!" Miho ordered Hana as well.

Saori's machine gun swung from the right where it had been cutting down a few fleeing Maginot soldiers and sprayed at the shop. Miho could practically see Hana turning the wheel as fast as possible to turn the turret.

A loud Pting was all Miho heard before her tank jerked to the right. Everything began happening too fast as she saw a flash from the shop.

"Jump!" a yell from behind her from the soldiers

"I've lost control" A desperate statement from Mako

Just as Miho saw the tank start barreling down towards the corner of the building. A small part of her mind registered the broken track on the right side sliding of the wheels, the rest too busy forcing her hand to press on the intercom microphone and telling her mouth to spit out an order for her friends.

"Brace for Impact!!" was all she could spit out as she ducked into the tank just barely closing the hatch in time. An impact from the side swung her head and smashed it on the commanders hatch before the tank hit the building and she jerked forward and smashed it on the front just barely registering the sound of rubble falling on the tank as she collapsed on the floor her vision fading to black.

————————————————————————  
Word Ledger

Overlord: This name refers to the code name of Miho. In Military radio the commander's unit has their own proper code name separated from the others.

Reaper Actual: In this Radio name their are two critical parts to it. The first is Reaper which identifies which unit is talking and the second part is Actual which identifies that it is Amaryllis speaking and not her radioman.

Solid Copy: A response given to How copy which lets the other person know you understood their entire message.

Out: Lets the other person know that you are done talking.

Sitrep: Short for Situational report, a quick recap of how things are going on your end. Vital for the proper function of any unit and its commanders.

/Break/: Let's the other person know that you have finished your conversation topic and are moving on to another topic. Ex: "We are moving forward /Break/ Enemies have been harassing all day."

Over: Let's the other person know that you are done talking.

Mikes: Radio/Military lingo for minutes.

Overlord 1-1: The first part refers to being part of the commanders unit while the number lets the other person know that they are talking to the radioman and not the leader.

Warhammer 2-1: The only difference from the previous thing is the 2-1 which lets the other person know that they are the second company and it is the radioman. 2=second company, 1=Radioman

Fire mission: A mission for the artillery to bombard a location.

ETA: Short for estimated time of arrival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys/girls, sorry for the short chapter and how long you had to wait for this. I had a really bad writers block combined with a small break from writing and some other stuff resulted in me being unhappy with my work and restarting a few times. At the end of the day thought those are simply excuses and I should of stuck to the schedule I had made.
> 
> I do want to let you guys know that no matter how long it takes me to update this book I will continue updating it no matter what. Even if it takes me half a year to update I will continue going in till this book is finished. So I hope you can forgive me for this late chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one. Sorry for the cliffhanger at the end, I know I can be cruel sometimes XD.
> 
> Anyways hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Years as well as this year hopefully having started off on a better footing compared to mine. Hope you have a good week and to see you guy's next week with the next chapter. (maybe I'll post a One-shot on Wednesday too depends how school goes).
> 
> Signed Irishluck☘️  
> 2021/2/1


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